Divided
by LittleMissTree
Summary: Alexandra Hart could not be further from her comfort zone. In fact, she was over 5,000 miles away from it. As the new student at Beacon Hills High School, she worries about fitting in. But as she delves deeper into the mysteries that surround the town and her new friendships, Alex finds there are darker things to worry about that might just cost her everything. Stiles/OC
1. Chapter 1

My leg bounced up and down in time to the raindrops spattering on the car windshield. So, it was going to be _that_ sort of day. I knew I shouldn't be surprised that my brain was filled with anxious thoughts about the coming week. After all, starting a new school in a new town and in a country that was almost completely alien to me was pretty nerve wracking to say the least. I had only moved once in my entire life, and that was out of the piece of crap apartment my parents had bought, just after my eighth birthday. I was surprised it took us that long to move out since all they ever did was complain about it when we lived there. Eight years of incessant complaining, no wonder I got headaches every time my mother opened her mouth to mention yet another thing my dad had done wrong. I closed my eyes, shaking my head at the thought of my crazy, control freak of a mother. Yeah, we were close but I can definitely say I was closer with my dad. The annoying thing was that he was always working away from home whilst she stayed in her office down the hall from my bedroom. But that was London. And we were now in California for a fresh start. A very fresh start from the look of the rain that was refusing to let up outside my car. Sorry, let me rephrase that, the car that I partially owned, but not fully because there was no way my mum would let me have my own car when I was barely 16. I was lucky really because in London, I would have had to wait yet another year before I even got to learn how to drive. Thankfully, as soon as we'd arrived in Beacon Hills, my mum bought us a shared car and I got my license. I'd also been informed on the very same day that I'd have to repeat year 11, or tenth grade as it was called in America, since I hadn't covered enough of my new school's curriculum to be allowed into eleventh grade. So actually that day had ended up sucking as I would be leaving school at 19 to go back to London and, fingers-crossed, to the best university I'd be allowed into. Which was definitely not going to be the prestigious institutes of Cambridge and Oxford, as hard as my mother tried to push me towards going to one of them. I really missed my old home, school, and most importantly, my friends. They had all given me goodbye presents and a promise to skype me as often as they could. So far, I hadn't got a single call. But then I reminded myself, it was summer and they were probably all either shopping or down at the beach, attempting to tan in the shitty British weather.

I brushed aside an annoying brown curl and took off my glasses to place them on the passenger seat beside me. Great. The wet weather was going to make my hair even more curly than it already was, and I hated the stupid curls that clung to my head, sticking up in all directions if I hadn't brushed it in exactly the right way. Urgh, this was not going to be a good week…and it wasn't even Monday yet. I opened the door and slid out, being careful to lock it behind me. I wouldn't want anyone stealing my only ride to school before my first day. I crossed the parking lot, tucking the keys into the pocket of my leather jacket, and pulling the hood of my comfy grey sweater up over my head. It was Sunday evening, and I had been tasked with picking up some groceries from the nearest convenience store. I was surprised it was even open this late.

"Welcome to Eddy's! Nice weather, huh?" A blonde girl chirped at me as I walked into the store. She had a very noticeable southern drawl, and so was definitely not native to California. I was pretty good with accents from the many times I'd watched Westerns, concluding that she was probably from Tennessee.

I nodded, "I'm loving it," and continued on my way, coming to a halt when she spoke again.

"Oooooh you're British! I'm just lovin' that sweet accent of yours!" Her hands clapped together as she beamed at me.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her remark. It wasn't the first time someone had pointed out my accent, and I knew it definitely wouldn't be the last. I turned towards her and gave her the best smile I could under the circumstances.

"Yeah. Um thanks."

I turned away again, not wishing to make anymore small talk with the girl. She seemed nice enough, but I was tired and hungry and really needed to get on with my shopping. I overheard her talking about me as I headed towards the frozen aisle. She was clearly trying to be quiet so I couldn't hear her, but was failing pretty miserably.

"Hey Lisa, I thought the British were supposed to be polite?"

"I don't know, Amy. That's just what I've heard."

"How odd."

I laughed silently as I picked out some fries, frozen veg and chicken wings. It was enough for tonight, since I couldn't be bothered to cook and both my parents were too busy working to rustle up a fancy dinner. I then picked up some bottles of 'soda', though back at home we'd call them fizzy drinks. Moving over to the tinned soup, I spotted my favourite. Chicken and vegetable broth. Delicious, and just what I needed on a depressing day like this. I was just bending down to grab a tin or two when my head split open in pain. Well, figuratively anyway. It was the perfect time for me to get a migraine. I shook my head several times to get rid of the dizziness, clutching it as I did. Migraines were almost a daily occurrence for me, and as usual I had forgotten to take the medication I was prescribed by my doctor back in England. For most people, shaking their head would make them even more dizzy, but for some reason it just settled my migraine into a state I could manage. I took the tin off the shelf, placed it into my basket and then headed to the checkouts.

"Are you okay there honey?" The girl from Tennessee questioned, a worried look on her face. She was your standard beauty, blonde hair, blue eyes and extremely pink lips. This girl could do so much better than working in a small store, like becoming a model. She handed me some grocery bags, noticing that I'd forgotten to bring some.

I shrugged and began loading the food onto the conveyor belt, "I'll be fine, just a headache that's all."

She didn't look convinced but nodded anyway as I packed my shopping away into the bags she'd given me. I think the girl had realised I wasn't in the mood for talking very much because she didn't say another word whilst I packed.

"That comes to nineteen dollars and twenty five cents please."

I pulled out a twenty from my pocket and handed it over, muttering my thanks. Smiling again (she had rarely stopped smiling since I'd walked into the shop), she waved me goodbye, and I politely returned the gesture.

Unfortunately, it had not stopped raining in the time it had taken me to do the shopping, instead getting heavier and heavier. I skipped over a few deep-looking puddles on my way to the car, not wanting to take any chances with my new black boots, and rushed to open it. As soon as I was safely on the road, I switched on the radio to find my new favourite song was playing. It was the perfect opportunity to sing, something I'd not had the time to do in a while. Singing in my bedroom into a hairbrush was no longer an option since I'd caught my parents standing sneakily by the door to listen. It was an unfortunate moment in the song when they'd decided to listen, as I screeched out a high note in a Mariah Carey song that I couldn't quite reach. You know when you think you can reach it and you belt it out because it's easier, but then it just sounds like a cat is dying? Yeah, that was exactly what happened. It was too embarrassing to put into words. From then on, I'd decided no one else could listen to me sing, and if I did, I certainly wouldn't do it properly.

I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel in time to the music and hummed along to the tune. The windshield was so misty with condensation that I could only just see outside, and I decided it would be safer to turn the wipers up a few notches. The rain was just beginning to ease off when a large shape ran out in front of my car. I rammed the brakes on as hard as I could, coming to a sudden and very jerky stop. My heart was pounding so loud against my chest that I almost had to hyperventilate just to get enough oxygen flowing. I rolled down the window to take a peek outside but there was nothing there. What on earth was that thing who had stupidly ventured onto a road right in front of a car going 50mph? Clearly a complete lunatic with a death wish, if it was even human. I hadn't heard much about what animals lived in California, and had no idea if they even had bears, which would explain the massive shape. It was probably a good idea to learn more about my new state before I started school. The extreme braking had triggered the safety system on the car, so I started it up again and kept on driving at a slower speed this time in case anything or anyone else decided to jump out in front of me.

Pulling up into the driveway of my new home, I spotted my parents arguing in the window. Not again, I groaned. I was so fed up of their stupid arguments over which coffee brand to buy and what show to watch on TV that night. I jumped out of the car and jogged up to the front door, taking out my keys to open it. The house was a modest size, much bigger than the apartment in London, but then everything was bigger in America. The houses, the cars, the roads. It was a red brick house, with white trimmings and two columns to hold up one of the bedrooms that jutted out of the first floor. There was a small garden at the back, which was ideal since neither of my parents had any time for gardening, and a driveway big enough to fit the two cars we owned. I wouldn't say we were rich, but we had enough to afford some nice things, and to just about pay my college tuition. That's even if I stayed in America after graduating, which was not looking good right now.

"Hi sweetheart, did you get the food?" My mother asked as I walked into the kitchen, placing the bags on the counter.

"No I forgot, sorry. That's why I have these two bags filled with nothing," I said sarcastically and received an unamused look in return.

"Very funny, Alexandra. You'll have no trouble making friends with that amazing humour of yours."

I rolled my eyes and began unpacking the groceries, popping the chicken wings and fries in the oven. Seeing my mother shake her head at the unhealthy food I'd bought, I heated the frozen veg in a pan of boiling water. It wasn't totally unhealthy…just mostly but hey, I was a growing girl. Eventually, she left the kitchen and joined my dad in watching the local news, which was turned up loud enough for me to hear clearly.

" _Police have confirmed that the bloody trail found earlier in Beacon Hills is human, and they are now searching the surrounding area for more evidence…"_

So even a small town like this wasn't far from danger, I thought, stirring the veg and checking up on the food in the oven. It wasn't far off being ready, and my stomach growled at the sight and smell of it. Soon enough, the timer beeped, and I took the chicken and fries out of the oven.

"Dinner's ready!" I cried from the kitchen, dishing up the food onto three plates and filling three glasses to the brim with lemonade.

My parents took what felt like several years to come into the kitchen and scoop up their meal from the table, nodding their thanks. My dad stuck around for a while to ask me a few questions.

"So Alex, how are you feeling about tomorrow? Looking forward to making a few friends?"

"Okay I suppose, not really used to having to make new friends. Hopefully they don't think I'm too much of a weirdo."

My dad laughed, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure you're not the weirdest teen in this town. I bumped into the Sheriff earlier on my way home and his kid seemed a lot weirder than you."

"Is that meant to make feel better?"

"Yes."

"Well it didn't work," I told him, stuffing several fries into my mouth and picking at my chicken.

"It was worth a try. Have you talked to your mother about your feelings?"

I raised my eyebrows and he sighed deeply, shaking his head.

"You know you're going to have to talk to her some time about these things."

"Not today I'm not, you can see how much we get on each other's nerves. She complains about something, and I get snarky. That's just how it goes."

Resting his hand over mine, he grimaced. "Okay Alex, I'll let it slide today but promise me you'll make an effort this week?"

"Dad plea-"

"No, this time you're promising me and sticking to it, okay?"

I groaned. "Okay fine."

"That's my girl," he said, leaving me to think about how I was going to talk to my mum about my feelings whilst I finished dinner.

One of the best things about living here was having a larger room where I could lock myself away from my mum and just think about things without her breathing down my neck. I was dreading coming home tomorrow. She seemed to think it was necessary she knew everything about my day, from what I'd had to eat at lunch to what exact time I went to the bathroom. It was annoying as hell. Three more years, I told myself. Three years until I could be independent and not have to answer every question she had to ask. I couldn't wait.

I picked up my laptop from the desk and sat down on my bed, ready to find out all I could about California and the boring town of Beacon Hills. After searching through the usual facts of average temperature, rainfall and how many people lived in California, I came across some more interesting things. I learned that wolves had not been here for many years, so what I had seen earlier was definitely not a wolf. There were, however, black bears in this state, and quite a lot of them as well, which would explain the large shape that bounded in front of me. After reading this, I concluded that what I'd seen was most probably a black bear, nothing unusual or mysterious, much to my disappointment. The only time I'd seen a bear was at a zoo, and that was from a distance. Okay, so I hadn't actually seen it because I'd lost my glasses that day and could only see the blurry outline of what I thought was a bear. It was close enough.

The other thing that caught my eye was an old news story from Beacon Hills six years ago. There had been a house fire killing the majority of a family, not far from where I lived. I clicked on the link several times, but the page refused to do anything. I tried again and again, but nothing happened. Dammit. I'd really wanted to read that, stupid internet. Why did the internet always act up when I needed it the most? It was as if it was laughing at me. _Haha Alex, no interesting news story for you to read today. Bad luck._

I closed the lid of the laptop and placed it on the floor before changing out of my wet clothes and into comfy, warm pyjamas. I loved getting into bed when it was raining outside. There was something comforting about being all warm and cosy when the outside looked so miserable. I was that way with winter as well, preferring to snuggle under the covers with my favourite movie and a hot chocolate instead of facing the cold weather.

It was 8.30pm when I'd come up to my room, and I glanced over at the clock to see it was now nearly eleven. I'd been researching for over two hours, not noticing the time at all. Sighing with tiredness, I pulled the covers over me and turned off the bedside lamp. It must have taken me at least an hour of tossing and turning before I finally got to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.

A distant beeping sound woke me from my deep sleep, alerting me that it was 6.30am and I should probably get up, probably being the operative word. I could afford a few more minutes, so I pressed the snooze button and settled back down...

"Alexandra! Alexandra! Wake up! You're going to be late on your first day."

"Nghhhhh, what time is it?"

My mother stood above my bed, hands on her hips and a disapproving look on her face. She was not happy.

"It's a quarter to eight. Get up, get up. You can take the car today as I'm working from home," she said sharply, pulling my duvet off me and grabbing me by the arm.

"Okay, okay, I think I can get up by myself." I swatted her hand away as I got out of bed. I was still half asleep, and dreading the next few hours of my life.

"I'm not so sure about that, Alexandra," and with that she stormed out of my room and downstairs to prepare breakfast. Knowing her bad mood, it would be something _really_ exciting like toast.

I stumbled into the shower, and ignored my legs which were practically screaming 'shave me, shave me'. I just didn't have time this morning to deal with that. I quickly washed and practically ran out of the shower, drying myself as I did. My outfit was draped over my desk chair, and I pulled it on as fast as I could. I peered in the mirror, running my hands through my hair as I judged what I looked like. The lack of make up definitely wasn't helping me at all, but there was no time for that today. Sighing, I picked up my leather jacket and rushed down the stairs to find a cup of my favourite tea on the kitchen table, along with a plate of pancakes. No toast in sight. My mother must have suddenly been in a good mood, despite her anger at me for not waking up on time.

"There's a notepad and pen on the table as well," I heard my mum call out from the front room.

"Thanks! I'll see you later," I shouted back, gulping the tea down and shovelling a few pancakes before picking up the notepad and pen and stuffing it into my bag.

I jumped in the car, shoving my glasses on as I rushed to reverse out of the drive. The journey took less than ten minutes with my slightly erratic driving, but at least I was on time, even if it did mean not stopping long enough at the stop signs. I managed not to kill anyone, so it was fine. As I pulled into the school parking lot, I noticed it was about the same size as my old school back in England, if not a bit bigger. It wasn't surprising since Beacon Hills didn't have the largest populations; probably somewhere around 30,000. It looked nice enough, and definitely more welcoming than I had expected. For some reason, my stupid brain decided that Beacon Hills High School would look like a prison. But, that wasn't going to stop the intense butterflies I felt as I parked the car beside a silver Porsche and got out, grabbing my bag and the keys. Whoever owned that was definitely much richer than most of the students here. It was the most expensive car I could see. I crossed the lot and headed towards the entrance, following a slim girl of average height and flowing strawberry blonde waves who was accompanied by her friends. It wasn't hard to see she was the most popular girl in school from the way her hips swayed in such a confident way and how her outfit, body, basically everything was perfect. She wore a purple plaid skirt under a black coat with black heeled boots. I suddenly felt conscious of my thin knitted jumper and denim skirt, thinking maybe I'd dressed a bit too casually, but as usual, it was too late to go back now. I just wished I was as confident as the girl I was following. Confidence had never really been my strong point, but at least the sarcasm seemed to hide my lack of confidence anyway.

As I followed the clique, I overheard part of the conversation of two sophomore boys.

"Whoa, God, that is frickin' awesome, I mean this is seriously the best thing that's happened to this town since…the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey, Lydia! You…look…like you're gonna ignore me."

The strawberry blonde walked straight past him without even a glance in his direction. I stifled a giggle as I brushed past him and continued up the steps into the school's main hallway. Poor guy. He clearly had a massive crush on the beautiful, popular girl called Lydia, who was unfortunately way out of his league. At least, that's what it seemed like. Yeah, I guess he was cute in his own way but someone like her was probably not going to fall for a jittery nerd like him. Not that I saw anything wrong with being a nerd. I tended not to agree with the apparent hierarchy of 'popular' teenagers that plagued every high school. I even considered myself to be a bit of a nerd, but I comfortably stood in the middle of the high school class system. Neither popular nor unpopular, just normal. Whatever normal was.

I looked back at them to see the boy turn to his friend, an accusing look on his face, "You're the cause of this, ya know? Dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been scarlet nerded by you."

When they started to walk up the steps, I turned away from them, thinking they wouldn't be happy to see me eavesdropping on their conversation. I pulled out the crumpled piece of paper with a map of Beacon Hills High School, my locker number and my temporary combination, from my bag, and wandered over to a group of lockers just up the hall and on the left. Most people had ignored my presence as I walked in, but some had smiled my way, recognising I was a newbie. It was nice to feel slightly welcomed in a place so foreign to me. My new high school experience was certainly going to be an adventure. I had no idea what the American schooling system was like, apart from that all the classrooms seemed to have blackboards instead of the whiteboards I was used to. Blackboards were okay, but the sound of chalk scraping across them was enough to make me feel very uncomfortable, and sometimes nauseous. It was stupid, I know, and something I would just have to put up with.

Several minutes later, a kind looking man with a dark complexion and a welcoming smile on his face, approached me at my locker.

"Alexandra Hart?"

"Yes that's me," I smiled back, shaking his outstretched hand.

"Welcome to Beacon Hills High School, I'm Mr Williams. I'm here to escort you to your first class, and hopefully make it a bit easier to settle in. We have another new student arriving a bit later, and I expect you'll be in a few of the same classes."

I nodded and thanked him, my voice faltering a little as the butterflies in my stomach got worse. I was relieved to hear I wasn't the only new girl and that someone was in the exact same boat as me. She probably wasn't a weird English girl with dull brown curls that never seemed to go the way she wanted no matter how many hours she tried to style it, and a tendency to be a bit too sarcastic at times. I'd been trying to calm it down since moving, but my mother got so annoyed when I made sarcastic comments that the urge to carry on was too strong. English humour was very satirical, so my excuse was that I was only embracing my culture, and I got away with it.

Mr Williams led me to a classroom a few corridors away from the lockers, and opened the door to a class that had barely started. I followed him in and stood nervously by his side, knees almost knocking together.

"Class, this is Alexandra Hart," he announced to a _very_ interested class. "Please make her feel welcome," and with that he smiled at me again and walked out, leaving me to find a seat in the midst of a group of teenagers I had never seen in my life. I awkwardly waved at the class, immediately regretted it, and meandered my way round several desks, just about recognizing a few faces from earlier, of which included the boy with the crush on the popular girl. I fought the urge to laugh at the poor guy and the situation he had found himself in that morning. Luckily, I spotted an empty place next to him, so I sat down quickly and fished around in my bag for the notepad and pen my mum had left for me on the kitchen table. My eyes drifted around the class to see that one girl had her head on the desk, another was curling her hair around her finger in an attempt at flirting with a boy across the room, and a few of the boys were amusing themselves by throwing paper planes at each other. The teacher wore an unamused look on his face. It wasn't hard to see he didn't enjoy his job much.

The door opened and Mr Williams, with who I assumed was the other new student stepped in. I noticed the boy in front, who had been talking with 'crush boy' couldn't keep his eyes off her.

"Class, this is our other new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

He left as quickly as he did with me, leaving her to find a seat by herself as well. She walked behind the boy with floppy brown hair and sat down next to me, his puppy eyes never leaving her. As soon as she was seated, he passed her a pen, to which she looked confused.

"Thanks," she smiled at him, taking it and then returned to looking confused.

* * *

I tapped my pen repeatedly on the pad of paper in front of me, occasionally jotting a few notes down as the teacher droned on about how many words in todays dictionary were invented by Shakespeare. English wasn't really my thing. I wasn't sure what was my thing exactly, but I was determined to find out at some point this year. After all, I kinda needed to decide by senior year. The boy on my left didn't look like he was paying much attention either, so when the teacher's back was turned, I leaned over to talk to him. I had to start somewhere with making friends.

"Well this is fun, huh?" I whispered.

He must have been in his own world because he jumped in his seat, before turning to look at me, eyes wide and curious as to who was speaking.

"Whaaaa? Oh, um, yeah. Real fun," he stuttered, and then narrowed his eyes, 'Wait…are you…you're the new girl, right?"

"Yeah. I'm Alexandra, as Mr Williams said when he introduced me," I said, laughing at him.

"Oh…yeah. I totally knew that," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't worry about it. It's Alex for short by the way. Or if you're lucky, I might let you call me Lexie," I winked at him, to which his eyes when wide again. Maybe I'd overdone that last bit. Stupid, _stupid,_ social skills.

He swallowed, his cheeks tinged pink. "Um, I-I-I…yeah..I'm Stiles. Stiles Stilinski."

"Well at least I know one person's name now," I replied, still cringing at my great decision to wink at a guy I didn't know.

"I, uh, would introduce you to people, but I think he'd have a problem with that," Stiles pointed to the teacher, and I nodded in agreement, not wanting to get on his bad side on the first day.

I turned back to my notes, somewhat relieved that encounter was over. On my right was the other new student, Allison Argent. I glanced over at her, and she caught my eye, smiling warmly, which I gladly returned. I felt a pang of jealousy at her brunette curls, which were much shinier and sleeker than mine. She was supermodel gorgeous, with long slim legs, and overall, a taller, paler and prettier version of me. No wonder the boy with adorable puppy dog eyes looked at her that way.

The rest of the period dragged on uneventfully, and when the bell rang as class ended, most of the students around me rushed to leave the room. I packed up my stuff and dawdles behind them before I remembered that I need to make friends, and I wasn't the only new girl here. I quickened my pace, slinging my bag over my shoulder, and slowing down when I saw Allison by her locker. She looked as nervous as I felt.

I took a deep breath before speaking, "Hi, Allison, right?"

She turned her head to face me, "Yeah, yeah I am. You're Alexandra? Mr Williams told me to look out for you."

"Uhuh, I moved from England, as you can probably tell from the accent. What about you?"

"We just came from San Francisco, not nearly as interesting as England. I've always wanted to go there."

"How come you haven't?"

Allison shrugged, a downcast look on her face, "I guess we were always too busy moving around for that. My dad's job means we don't stay in one place for long."

"Ahh, well you're not missing much, I promise," I grinned, trying to cheer her up.

"What's it like?" she asked curiously, turning away from her locker to face me fully.

"Let's put it this way. The weather is pretty shit. Ninety percent of the time it's either raining or there's miserable grey clouds."

Allison laughed, "Sounds like my kind of place."

"It definitely wasn't mine," I admitted, shaking my head at the thought of English weather. It was the only thing I didn't miss.

Allison gave my arm a friendly squeeze, "Thanks for coming over to talk to me. I wasn't sure about making friends, and now I have one."

My heart warmed at her words, thankful she was as nice as she looked. I had managed to make a friend after being at the school for less than an hour, a miracle by my standards. I tended to be stupid and say the wrong thing, like I did with Stiles. What the hell was I thinking? Winking at a guy I barely knew.

"No problem, I was worried as well."

I saw Lydia, the most popular girl in school, come up to us out of the corner of my eye, her gaze concentrated on Allison.

"That jacket is absolutely killer."

Allison twisted round to see Lydia pointing at her.

"Thanks."

"Where did you get it?" Lydia's head cocked to one side.

"My mum was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco."

"Really?" I interjected, "mine used to do that too."

"Wha-"

"And you are my new best friend," Lydia cut her off, completely ignoring my presence like she did with Stiles. I guess my style wasn't cool enough for her.

A guy came up behind her, wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing her on the cheek. He looked like the typical jock boyfriend who always went out with the pretty popular girl. I disliked him already.

"Hi, I'm Jackson," he smirked, pulling Lydia closer to him.

"This is Allison and…uh, what was your name again?" Lydia asked.

"Alexandra, Alex for short," I replied. It was so tempting to be rude, but I kept my cool.

"You're both new here?" Jackson questioned, to which we nodded and watched as he looked us up and down.

As Jackson and Lydia began asking Allison questions about where she came from, my attention drifted to Stiles and his friend looking over at us. They weren't the subtlest at hiding the fact they were talking about us with another one of their classmates.

"So, this weekend there's a party," I looked back to see Lydia leaning against Jackson.

"A party?" I could tell Allison was trying to seem interested.

"Yeah, Friday night. You should come. Both of you," Jackson answered, adding the bit about me coming after a long delay.

"Uh, I can't. It's family night this Friday, though I'm sure you can go, right Alex?"

"Umm, sure. I can come." Lydia didn't look too pleased but she shrugged and smiled anyway.

"Thanks for asking, though."

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "You sure? Everyone's going. It's a party for our team."

"Football team?"

"Football's a joke. The sport here's Lacrosse, and since we've won the State Championship three years in a row, it's gonna be an awesome party," he said cockily.

"Because of a certain team captain." Lydia ruffled his hair, and he smirked.

"We have practice in a few minutes, if you don't have anywhere else to be?"

Allison glanced at me, and I gave her a look to say 'why not?'. It's not like we were busy, so we couldn't really decline.

"Well I was going to-"

"Perfect!" Lydia clapped her hands together, taking mine and Allison's hands and leading us away from the lockers.

I found myself thinking something I never thought I would. I was friends with the popular girl. This was going to be one hell of a year.

 **Hi guys and welcome to Divided! I hope this chapter was enough to make you interested in this fic, if not, I'm sorry! Like any other writer, I love reviews, whether encouraging or critical, so please feel free to leave them. If this chapter is well received then I'm definitely going to continue, because I have a lot of (hopefully exciting) things planned for the characters, especially for Alex. Also, sorry if any of the names of my characters have been used in other Teen Wolf fics. I haven't had time to go through them all, but I've tried my best to come up with names people may not have used before. Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to do so with future chapters :) -Ellie xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

Lydia led Allison and I to the field, where the lacrosse team were starting practice for the season. I noticed the boy with cute eyes who couldn't stop staring at Allison earlier was on the team, and their eyes met again as he carried his lacrosse gear across the grass. We sat high up on the benches, the best place to have a perfect view of the entire field, but also the worst because of the biting wind that made me feel like it was mid-Winter already. Lydia had been sensible with her black coat and woollen hat, and Allison looked warm enough, but my thin jumper and jacket did nothing to protect me from the cold.

"I thought California was supposed to have good weather?" I asked Lydia and Allison, wrapping my arms tightly around my torso.

"It does most of the time. Maybe you brought the weather all the way from England," Allison suggested, to which Lydia agreed.

"I wouldn't be surprised," I laughed and started to rub my arms for extra warmth.

I watched as both Allison and Lydia gazed at the boy as he entered the goal, seeming very interested in him and whatever he was going to do. I understood why Allison was since they couldn't stop looking at each other since first period, but Lydia…not so much. Maybe she just liked crushing on boys in general, even though she already had a boyfriend. She soon lost interest however, and turned her attention towards the other boys on the team. I had never watched a lacrosse game before and the rules were a mystery to me, so I was once again out of my depth.

"Who is that?" Allison asked Lydia, who frowned.

"Him? I'm not sure who he is. Why?"

"He's in mine and Alex's English class, isn't he, Alex?" Allison nudged me.

"What? Oh yeah, he is," I said, leaning closer to her and whispering, "But we both know the real reason you asked."

Allison cleared her throat, but her eyes didn't stray from the cute boy. The whistle rang to start the practice, and we watched painfully as he was knocked to his feet by a fast travelling lacrosse ball. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Stiles flail his arms, disappointed at his friend's bad start. I had to admit, he didn't look like a promising player. But then suddenly he caught the ball out of nowhere, earning a cheer from Stiles and a gaping expression from the Coach. He caught the next ball as well, and the next, and then the next one.

"Woohoo!" Stiles exclaimed, almost jumping from his seat.

I turned to face Allison to see her smiling.

"He seems like he's pretty good."

"Yeah, very good," Lydia replied, clearly impressed.

Jackson, however, wasn't impressed one bit. He skipped the queue, lacrosse stick in hand and ready to show what he was made of. I felt myself tense up as he charged towards the goal, and sent the ball flying…right into Scott's net. This time Stiles did actually jump up excitedly from his seat, followed by an equally excited Lydia, who started clapping loudly next to us.

"Woooo!" Lydia's cheer was followed by many others across the field as people realized that Jackson, the captain of the team, had just been upstaged by someone not even on first line.

Jackson glared at Lydia, jealous that her attention was focused another guy, a nobody in his point of view. I smirked, hiding it slightly with my hands. He needed to learn that he couldn't be on top all of the time, and Lydia was just making sure he kept up with her expectations. I didn't really know what to think of either of them, or if I even liked Lydia. I knew I didn't like Jackson, but then I can't imagine many people who did. They probably just feared him.

The rest of the day went by slowly, with nothing much going on. I swapped numbers with Lydia and Allison, and promised to text them both at some point that evening. I planned to just get home, start on my homework and then chill, watching movies and eating whatever I could find in the kitchen. I was too tired to do anything else, and definitely too tired to listen to my parents complain to each other. My favourite tea was waiting for me again when I got home, just like it was that morning. Most of the time, I couldn't get enough of it, and some days I drank six cups. To be honest, I felt quite sick during the night afterwards, but it was worth it.

I collapsed on my bed and kicked off my boots, sighing. First days, whether at a new school or not, were always exhausting, especially with all the worrying I had done. The bed was so comfortable, and I was desperate for a nap but unfortunately I had too much work to do, so I picked up my laptop from the bedside table and got started. A couple of hours in, I'd had enough, my attention drifting to the window to see it had got dark and begun raining again.

My phone buzzed several times, telling me I had a message from Allison. I swiped right to read it, feeling guilty that I hadn't texted her first like I'd said.

 _From: Allison_

 _Hey Alex, you'll never guess what?_

I typed my reply quickly, intrigued as to what she was talking about.

 _Hey, what's going on?_

It only took a few seconds for her to message me back. She must have been waiting urgently for my reply.

 _Scott asked me to the party on Friday!_

Her reply confused me.

 _Who's Scott? I thought you had family night?_

 _The guy from our English class. Um I may have made that up to get out of going. Don't judge._

 _Haha no judging here. Congrats on the date._

 _It's not a date. It's just a party._

I laughed. She was seriously in denial about her feelings for him.

 _It's a date._

 _Okay it's a date._

"Alexandra, dinner!" My dad called from downstairs. He wasn't usually home this early, but sometimes a slow day at the office meant he was back before seven or eight.

 _Exactly what I thought. I have to go for dinner now but tell me all about it tomorrow?_

 _Sure! See you tomorrow._

I half skipped down the stairs in a rush to get to dinner. My parents sat at the table in silence, which was a rare sight, but they looked happy enough.

"Someone's in a good mood," my dad commented, patting my arm as I sat down.

"I'm a typical teen. I love my food. Anyway, I could say the same about you two," I said and dug into my spaghetti.

"We're always happy, honey," my mum smiled at me.

"If you say so. How was work, dad?"

"It was slow, nothing much was going on."

My dad worked as a lawyer for a small firm not far from Beacon Hills, which meant that sometimes he didn't have a huge workload like he did in London when he was at a bigger firm. It was nice having him home more to ease the tension, or sometimes to create it. But being able to spend more time with him and as a family was great.

"How was your first day at school? Made any new friends? Are any of them boys?" Dad asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Woah, so many questions. Which one do you want me to answer first?"

"All of them, obviously." He was definitely a typical jokey dad.

"Robert, she can't answer them all at once," Mum joined in.

"Exactly. Anyway, school was alright. I made a couple of friends. Not really."

My parents looked at each other for a moment and then started laughing.

"What?" I asked innocently.

Dad shook his head. "Are you going to give us any details?"

"Umm, I made friends with two girls called Allison and Lydia but I don't know if I like Lydia yet."

"Why not?"

"She looks down on people. I wouldn't be surprised if she looks down on me." I spun some spaghetti around my fork and ate it.

"Ah I see. What about boys?"

I groaned. "No boys dad, okay." There was no way I was going to let my parents know I'd made a fool of myself in front of a boy. I would never hear the end of it.

"Don't tease her. I'm sure she'll tell us when she's ready," my mum uttered. It was one of those rare times when she knew me, and said the right thing.

"Oh yeah, is it okay if I go to a party on Friday night? It's just a school thing. Allison will be there, and I think it's at Lydia's house."

"Of course, just make sure to text us the address when you know it. Also, I need the car on Friday night, so can you get a lift with one of your friends?"

"Can't you use dad's?"

"No, I'm sorry. Your father has to travel to San Francisco on Friday morning. He won't be back until Sunday evening at the earliest."

"How come?"

"Someone call in to the firm, said they needed a lawyer who could work on a higher profile case but for half the money," dad replied, looking very grave. It must have been something serious, or they wouldn't have called him. Something like a murder. I shuddered at the thought. I knew he worked on things like that but I also really didn't want to know. It's one thing to hear it on TV or read it in a book, but another to know your dad is working with a person who just ended someone's life. A killer.

"That sounds serious."

"Unfortunately it is."

I sighed, scooping up the last of my food. "I can't get a ride with Allison but I'll ask around, see if I know anyone else who's going."

"Thanks sweetheart, I really appreciate it," my mum's hand covered my own, and she gave me a small smile. I did love her very much, even though we found each other difficult to get on with.

"That's okay," I said, rising from the table and taking my bowl over to the sink. "Thanks for dinner."

"What are you doing tonight?" My mum wondered, joining me at the sink.

"I think I'll go out for a run in a bit, but I won't go far."

"Please be careful. I've been hearing some awful things on the news lately."

"Always am."

My gym clothes, which also worked as running clothes, were hidden somewhere at the bottom of my closet, amongst goodness knows what. I couldn't be bothered to put them neatly somewhere since I hardly used my gym stuff, so I had just shoved it in. It took a while but I eventually found a top, sweater and leggings mixed up with a costume I wore for a Christmas party two years ago. I detangled the mess and got changed, realizing my leggings were a bit worn but since no one else had a pair in the house (especially not my dad), they would have to do. Socks and running shoes went on next before I tied my hair up and headed out. It was still raining a bit, but not enough to bother me. It was a free cooling system.

I pulled my hood up and began jogging, setting off at a light pace. It felt like I was in a ghost town, save for a couple of cars that passed me every ten minutes or so. At first, I could see that almost every house was lit, but as time went on, people went to bed and the lights became a less frequent sight. I glanced at my phone to see it had just gone ten, and I had been running for over an hour. Before my mum got even more worried, I decided it was best to turn round and sprint back if I had any more energy. I may have had energy for a run but not for another lecture about how I wasn't to go out so late on my own and how I was still a child, and how I didn't understand the dangers around me. Sometimes I thought she'd forgotten I was going to be eighteen in just over a year. I ran round the corner to see the street in front of me was completely dark, even though a few seconds ago it had been lit. I carried on, wondering where I was and where I was going. It didn't take long for me to see I was lost. Unfortunately, I didn't know this town as well as I should have before going for a run in the dark. I pulled out my phone to use it as a GPS when I realized I'd come to the edge of a forest. I was well and truly lost.

I could see the edges of the moon peaking out through the trees. It was almost a full moon, though I couldn't usually tell the difference between a proper full moon and the days leading up to it. It was a hauntingly beautiful view, especially with the faint mist that had come after the rain stopped. I waited patiently as my phone loaded its built in GPS, but the internet wasn't great. Not surprising since I was in the middle of nowhere.

"Come on you stupid thing," I complained, hitting the side of the phone with my hand.

 _Snap._ I whirled round at the sound of a branch snapping somewhere within the woods.

"Hello?" I called out, leaning from side to side, but I couldn't see anything in the darkness. I walked away from the edge as I typed my address into my phone, but I heard the sound again.

"Okay this isn't fu-" I stopped sharply, my eyes squinting to see two large red circles hanging mid air in front of me. They didn't move once in the few minutes I stood there looking at them, and sometimes it even felt that they were looking back at me. It was clearly someone playing a joke on me, or just me being tired. I wasn't going to start being paranoid about things that go bump in the night like my mother. I looked down at my phone to see the route home mapped out, breaking eye contact with the red circles, and ran all the way home. I didn't look back once.

* * *

"Soooo, tell me about Scott," I said, sticking a fork into several of my chips. I sat across from Allison in the canteen, who hadn't stopped smiling since I saw her that morning. Lydia and Jackson were off somewhere doing something that I didn't want to know about, so it was just us and it was the perfect opportunity to have her spill the details.

"It sort of came about when I hit a dog with my car."

"You hit a dog?! You didn't kill it did you?"

"No no, I'm getting to that. So anyway, I went to the vets and stood there crying whilst I waited for someone to come to the door. And Scott came, managed to calm me down and make me feel better for crying," Allison replied, blushing.

"Awww, that is so cute. What else?" I leaned forward, eager to hear more.

"It turned out that the dog just had a broken leg, so he put a splint on it and lent me one of his shirts because I was soaked."

"Such a gentleman. You're already at the borrowing clothes stage of the relationship," I teased.

"Shush. Anyway, Scott asked me if Friday was really family night and it ended up with him asking me to the party. So you're going, right?"

"If I can get a lift, but since you're with Scott, who will I go with?"

Allison thought for a moment. "Is there anyone else you're friends with?"

"I dunno really. I spoke to a few people this morning but I don't think they're going."

Allison glanced round at the room, scanning for potential lift dates. Her eyes lingered on Scott for a lot longer than any other person.

"Have you spoken to Scott's friend?"

I looked over at Scott and Stiles, who were deep in discussion. "Stiles?"

"Yeah, him."

"Uh, a little. I don't really know him though. He has a huge crush on Lydia."

"Perfect. You can go with him then. He's bound to say yes if his crush is as big as you say it is."

I put my head in my hands, looking grumpily at my friend. "Maybe. I think I have Chemistry with him later."

"Ask him, for me?" She batted her eyelids at me.

"That look does not suit you. You should be begging on your knees instead," I pointed my fork at the floor.

"In your dreams, Lex."

Mr Harris was not my favourite teacher. I had the feeling he didn't like me, but I wouldn't be surprised if he disliked every student in all of his classes. It was a shame because I actually liked chemistry, the only one of my friendship group back in England. I was early to class after lunch, and there were only a few people who had arrived earlier than me. I sat down close to the front and waited for someone to walk in and sit next to me. The rest of the class filed in eventually, followed by Mr Harris, who did not look impressed by the students he had to teach that period. My first chemistry class the day before hadn't gone that well. I sat on my own right at the front, not realizing people weren't as eager as me to see the blackboard. Then Harris had chosen the wrong time to ask me a question, because I was in the middle of the coughing fit and hadn't been paying attention. I really hoped that the same thing wouldn't happen today. A blonde girl shuffled over and sat next to me, her eyes down and concentrating on her hands that were shaking slightly. I opened my mouth to ask if she was alright but Mr Harris interrupted me and started his opening speech.

"Right settle down. I'm going to start by asking some basic questions that you should all get right, but most of you won't because you failed to do this summer's assignment."

I started panicking. I hadn't done any assignment, and hadn't been warned of such a thing. This class was going to be as bad as the last one, I could feel it. Scott and Stiles sat in front of me, both pulling out a sheet of paper from their textbooks, which I assumed was the assignment.

"Let's start with acids," he said, scanning the class. "Ah, Alexandra."

I froze.

"Can you tell me what makes a substance an acid?"

"Umm, well an acid donates protons. To be more specific, it donates hydrogen ions," I mumbled, not sure if he could hear me or not.

Mr Harris nodded. "Good. Why is one acid more acidic than another?"

"Because it has more hydrogen ions?"

"Exactly. Now can anyone else tell me about any reactions with acids?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the last year of studying chemistry hadn't gone to waste, and I could actually remember some of it. The teacher asked a few more questions before turning to the blackboard and writing some notes down for us to copy. As I was starting to write, I remembered I'd promised Allison that I'd ask Stiles to the party on Friday, purely for transport reasons. I leaned forward and tapped Stiles on the shoulder.

"Yep?" The top half of his body spun around quickly. I could have sworn he was on something by the way he couldn't stop moving half the time.

"Uh, Stiles, can I talk to you after Chemistry?" I whispered.

"Sure…um, why?"

"Oh nothing serious or anything, I just need to ask you something."

Stiles' brow furrowed for a second but then he nodded and turned back round. I finished my notes a few minutes later and noticed that my lab partner had done the same. She still wouldn't look anywhere but her desk.

"Hey, I'm Alex," I told her, half expecting her not to reply.

She looked up at me, and I saw how tired she looked. Her eyes had bags underneath them, and her skin was paler than Allison's, with almost blue lips.

"I'm Erica. Are you new?" Her voice was quiet and mouse-like.

I nodded. "Yeah I came from-"

"England, you have the accent."

I hesitated for a moment. "Um, yep I do. I didn't see you in Chem class yesterday."

Erica looked down again. "I get ill a lot."

"Oh…I'm sorry," I reached out to put my hand on her shoulder but had second thoughts about it, and my arm fell to my side.

She shrugged and continued writing, ending the very short conversation we were having. I stayed silent for the rest of the period, getting up slowly to wait until everyone had gone off to talk to Stiles outside the classroom. I found him leaning against the wall, but as soon as he saw me, he rushed to stand up straight.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I was wondering if you're going to the party on Friday night?" I asked.

Stiles rubbed the back of neck. "Um I wasn't going to, why?"

"Would you like to come with me?"

"Er, like a d-date?" Stiles questioned sheepishly, his caramel eyes growing wide.

"No, no. Not a date, don't worry. I just need a lift, otherwise I can't go…and I really want to go," I said, trying to persuade him whilst fiddling with the hem of my pale blue sweater.

"Oh good…not that it wouldn't be good to go on a date, it's just uh, yeah anyway, I can take you. Shall I pick you up at eight?" Stiles managed to get out. I couldn't believe I'd persuaded him to go.

"Thank you so much! Eight is fine, I'll text you my address tonight or something?"

"Er sure, if you give me your phone, I'll put in my number."

I took my phone out of my pocket and handed it to him. As he typed in his number, it gave me the first opportunity to take in Stiles' appearance. He had very short brown hair that he ran his hands through occasionally but it didn't do much to change it, and his skin was porcelain and dotted with moles. Stiles was a good five inches taller than me at least, but he was neither lanky nor muscly, just in between. Apart from him being the Sheriff's son and Lydia's number one fan, I didn't know much about Stiles Stilinski. His only friend seemed to be Scott, and I didn't understand why that was. Maybe things were different here, and to be nerdy was a bad thing.

"There you go," Stiles interrupted my daydream, handing me back my phone.

I smiled at him. "Well, thanks again."

"No problem."

We stood there in an awkward silence for several moments before Stiles cleared his throat.

"Um, I should probably go now," he said, gesturing behind him. "I'll er see you around."

"Bye Stiles." I waved as he walked off and then headed towards the library to catch up on some homework. It was mostly empty when I got there; a relief since working well with lots of noise around me was not one of my special talents. I needed peace and quiet, and that's exactly what the library gave me.

* * *

Friday came around much quicker than I'd expected. It had warmed up since the beginning of the week, and I no longer needed to constantly wear my jacket. I was hanging out with Allison in my free period, and once again, I was dragged off to a lacrosse practice. This time, Coach was actually going to choose who made it to first line, and I could tell Allison was nervous for Scott, despite the smile and wave she gave him.

I squeezed her hand as we sat down on a bench. "He's going to be okay. Don't worry."

Allison gave me one of her warm smiles and returned the gesture. I knew she wasn't just anxious about how Scott might perform. It was the date as well that night. We'd been talking all week about how she should play out the night, and came to the conclusion that it was too soon for first base, unless a moment called for it. She'd known him for less than five days after all. I may have been somewhat hypocritical as the last house party I went to ended up with me, a guy and a lot of kissing. To be fair, I was convinced someone had spiked my drink, and since then, I refused to drink at parties. Here the legal age was twenty-one, which gave me even more of an excuse not to.

A whistle blew close by to signal the start of the tryouts, and the team jogged onto the field to begin playing. Nothing much happened for the first few minutes, until Scott caught the ball. He hesitated for a moment before running down the pitch towards the goal. It looked promising until Jackson came out of nowhere and rammed hard into Scott, knocking him to the ground. It was clear to see Scott was determined to make it to first line, because he got up quickly as if nothing had happened.

"Are you okay?" I muttered to Allison, who had subconsciously been biting her nails. She nodded, not taking her eyes off Scott.

I turned my attention back towards the game, my eyebrows raised in shock as Scott danced around his other team mates towards the goal. It was like he was a completely different player the way he dodged every defence. Then out of nowhere, he front flipped over three much bigger players and threw the ball straight into the goal. Allison and I jumped up, laughing and clapping as everyone cheered Scott. Soon he was surrounded by his team mates, being patted on the back and his hair ruffled. We watched as he was called over by Coach and cheered again when it was announced he had made first line. The only person who didn't seem overly happy about it was Stiles. I hadn't noticed him sitting on the bench but now it was plainly obvious he wasn't excited. Everyone around him was on their feet, but he just sat there, hunched over and not even clapping for his best friend. It was odd.

Allison and I chatted about Scott's performance and the party tonight as she walked me to my car.

"I don't understand how he did that," Allison said, shaking her head.

"Neither do I, it was incredible. How are you feeling about tonight?"

"I'm...fine."

"Allison." I stopped walking and stepped in front of her, crossing my arms over my chest. "How are you really feeling?"

"I'm excited…and nervous I guess," she admitted, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I promised myself no boyfriends until college when I came here, but then I met Scott and now I'm in two minds."

I placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to give her my best reassuring look. "You really like him, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Then there's nothing to worry about. It might go somewhere, it might not. Just see how tonight goes and then decide?"

Allison nodded as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and started moving us back towards my car.

"Thanks Lex. Text me when you get to the party? I'll come find you."

"Sure," I promised. I took the keys out of my bag and got into the car, waving goodbye to Allison as she walked off to meet her dad.

Mum had insisted I get a job instead of hanging around in my room all the time. She seemed to think I did nothing outside of school work, which wasn't completely true. Sometimes I read, worked on my fading musical talents and practiced yoga. When I say 'practiced', what I really meant was 'attempt to get into a position, hold it for ten seconds, and then give up'. The problem I had was that with most hobbies, I got bored quickly and decided to try something else. There had been watercolour painting, taekwondo, sailing, rifle shooting (when I was convinced I could be good at it) and tennis. In reality, I sucked at all of these. The only thing I had really stuck with was music, odd since no one else in my family cared for it. I was pretty good with computers too, so I had got a job in the local tech shop as an assistant, responsible for helping customers with minor problems.

I had driven to work straight from school, eager to seem enthusiastic and stay on good terms with my new boss. I opened the shop door, said hello to the other assistant and sat down at my tidy desk to start answering emails from the customers. It was about the only thing, apart from my school locker, that I kept tidy. I was typing a reply to a particularly difficult client when a shadow loomed over my desk.

"Um, excuse me." The nervous voice was very familiar, and I looked up to see the boy I had embarrassingly winked at, Stiles. Unfortunately, he went pink at the sight of me.

"Oh, er, hi Alex."

"Hey Stiles, how can I help you?" I asked, tucking a stray hair behind my ear.

"It's my laptop, it just, uh, gave up on me."

"Gave up on you how?"

Stiles rubbed the back of his neck, one of his adorkable habits. "Well I was researching some stuff…not weird stuff, totally, completely, one hundred percent normal stuff, and it, er, shut down and wouldn't turn on again."

"Okay, I'll just take it round back and see if I can do anything. Do you want to come with, or come back in a bit?"

"Uh," he paused for a moment, "I'll come with you. Private files and all that."

"Sure. Follow me."

I led Stiles to the back of the shop, where most of the senior technicians worked. In the month I had worked there, I had only been at the back once. Since the boss had left half an hour earlier, it was up to me and the other assistant to deal with any problem. I took the computer from Stiles' hands and sat down, gesturing for him to sit next to me. He took the seat cautiously, only loosening up a bit when I smiled at him, our eyes meeting properly for the first time. His were a caramel colour, very different to my blue ones. I had noticed how nervous he got around other girls, and I suppose I was no exception. I plugged the power cable into the laptop and turned it on. The screen lit up sluggishly, but at least it had powered up.

"I thought you said it wouldn't switch on?" I asked, moving my head to face Stiles with an eyebrow raised.

He grinned and shrugged. "Me and computers? We don't mix."

I laughed and shook my head. "Clearly."

I ran a few quick scans to see if anything was causing the laptop to crash. It didn't take long to see why it had as I scrolled through the scan report.

"Stiles, how many files do you have on here? Do you ever delete anything?"

"Uh, I guess not. Is that why this thing is so slow?"

"Pretty much. You have a lot of fragmented files, which means your computer has to search in lots of places to find and open a file. As for the crashing, it's probably because it can't cope with all the stuff you have on here."

Stiles looked very confused for a moment but his expression softened as he understood what I was saying. I installed a few programs onto his laptop to clean up the files and speed it up.

"Okay so let's try the internet now," I mumbled, partly to my self, and clicked on Safari. A page on lycanthropy came up quickly, and I glanced over at Stiles who was looking very embarrassed.

"So this is the 'not weird stuff' you were researching?"

"Yep. Totally normal."

I chuckled. "It's cool. Who hasn't looked up werewolves or other mystical creatures at some point?"

Stiles tilted his head in agreement, but was still pink with embarrassment. I would be embarrassed too if someone saw my internet history. Not because there was anything bad on it, but I tended to type anything I thought of into google to research, and I don't think anyone would want to see how weird my brain was. I closed the laptop lid and handed it back to a very relieved Stiles.

"Thanks Alex…so I'll… see you tonight?" Stiles asked, rising from his seat.

"Don't worry about it. Yeah, 8 at mine, see you then."

Stiles gave me a small smile. "Um, great. Bye then."

"Oh, and Stiles," I called as Stiles was about to walk out of the shop. "I'll send you the bill by email or something if you leave your details with my colleague."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about paying. Not that I wasn't going to pay, cause I was…obviously," Stiles explained as he jogged over to the other assistant.

I laughed at him and waved goodbye, turning back to the paperwork I had just got out from the drawer. I was strangely excited about tonight, considering I'd gone off parties since the drink spiking incident. But spending time with my new friends in a more relaxed environment than school seemed like a good idea to help me settle down. There was something about this town I liked, I just didn't know what yet.

 **Sorry this chapter came out a bit later than I had planned, but I hope you enjoyed it!**


	3. Chapter 3

It was one hour before Stiles arrived to take me to the party and I was buzzing. I'd got off early from work to get ready in time and have something quick to eat. The dock on my desk was blasting my new playlist out loudly as I decided between two tops to go with the smart pair of black jeans and black heels I had chosen earlier. After several minutes of debating I picked the cream lace top which I pulled on quickly, and paired it with some small silver hoops. I had eventually bought the top in a little boutique in London after going back and forth many times. In the end, my friend Katie had had enough of walking around and almost shouted at me to get it. I couldn't help being so indecisive, especially when it came to buying things. I didn't seem to have a problem with buying other people things, but when it came to myself, it took me a long time to get some courage and hand over the money. I sat on the carpet in front of my mirror, brushing some foundation onto my face whilst bobbing along to the music. Instead of my usual relaxing, indie music, I was listening to some party ones to keep me in the mood. I wasn't always a fan of mainstream music, but this playlist had most of the well-known songs I actually liked. The eyes came next, so I carefully applied some pale gold eyeshadow to go with my blue eyes, before putting a few layers of mascara on to make them stand out a bit more. The final thing to do was my hair, which hardly ever went to plan. The curls were more like waves today, so I brushed them a few times and pinned some back to create a half up-half down look. After a few more adjustments, I was ready to go downstairs. Turning off the music, I checked the time to see I still had twenty minutes before I would be picked up by Stiles. It was plenty of time to watch some TV and relax for a bit. I went down the stairs and into the front room, switching on the TV as I sunk back into the sofa, putting my feet up on the coffee table. Luckily, no parents were around to see me do this, otherwise they'd probably have a fit. Well, my mum definitely would.

The doorbell rang just as I was getting into an episode of Game of Thrones. I quickly got up to open the front door, expecting to see a very nervous Stiles. I wasn't disappointed. He was facing sideways, with his head down and legs jittering from side to side as he twiddled his thumbs in an anxious manner. It took him several moments to realise that I'd opened the door, and quickly swivelled round when I cleared my throat.

"Oh, hey," Stiles said cautiously, looking me up and down. "You, er, look nice."

"Hi Stiles, thanks. You don't look so bad yourself," I smiled at him.

He shrugged, scratching his head. "Ha…yeah, so you ready to go?"

"I just need to grab my phone, meet you by your car?"

Stiles nodded, and I disappeared inside to get my phone that I'd left earlier on the kitchen table. I seemed to leave everything there, but it was an ideal place if I was going out at some point. I locked the front door behind me and went to meet Stiles by his car. It was the complete opposite of Jackson's Porsche. Stiles was the proud owner, clear by the way he looked at his car, of a blue jeep. I had to admit I preferred it over a Porsche; it was much cuter, and definitely reminded me of Stiles.

"Nice jeep," I gestured to the car as I joined him.

Stiles walked me round to the right side of his blue jeep and opened the door to let me in.

"You won't be saying that if she doesn't last the night."

"Does she not usually?" I asked as he slid onto the driver's seat and started the car.

"Eh, sometimes. It depends on where I'm going, and how important it is I get there."

"Which means?" I asked, slightly confused.

"She doesn't break down on me when I can't afford her to. It's a theory I'm testing anyway."

"So tonight we should get there because it's so important to you," I uttered quietly, trying not to laugh.

"What? N-no, why would it be important to me? I mean, no, there's nothing important about tonight is there?"

"Not if you don't count your huge crush on a certain Lydia Martin," I said slyly, giving him an evil grin.

Stiles shook his head in disagreement. "Pffft, I don't have a crush on her. Even if she is a goddess, which I'm not saying she is…" Stiles trailed off, realising he'd just admitted his love for Lydia to me.

"You so do!"

"Fine, fine." Stiles lifted his hands off the steering wheel in defeat. Thankfully we were on a straight road or I would have worried for my life. "Why can't she work it out if you can?"

"Is that supposed to be an insult to my intelligence?" I asked jokingly, raising an eyebrow.

"No, not at all. I mean, I know she's intelligent…and I think you are as well."

Stiles was just digging himself a hole.

"I'm only joking, Stiles. Just tell her how you feel."

I could see him mulling it over as we drove up to what I assumed was Lydia's large house. It was almost double the size of mine. Stiles turned off the engine and looked over, still thinking about whether he should tell her or not.

"Noooo way, at least not tonight," Stiles finally said, turning back to face me.

"Stiles." I put my hand on his shoulder and looked him right in the eyes. "If you're ever going to tell her then tonight's the night. Just go for it, okay?" I had been told that staring someone down was usually the best way to get them to do something. Even if Lydia didn't have the same feelings for Stiles, it would be better for him to realise that sooner or later.

"Nahhh. I have a ten, er maybe fifteen year plan…I'll stick to that," Stiles shrugged, getting out the jeep and signalling for me to do the same.

I sighed, giving up. I stepped out of the jeep and shut the door behind me, walking around to follow Stiles up the stone steps to Lydia's house. He stopped suddenly in front of me and whizzed around, as if he'd just had an epiphany.

"Hey, you're friends with Lydia, right?"

I knew where this was going.

"No way," I replied firmly.

Stiles raised his arms up in desperation. "You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"It's still a no," I said, laughing as I brushed past him. The door was ajar, and I caught a glimpse of the many people inside dancing and drinking.

"Arghhhh, okay…it was a bad idea."

We entered the party at just the right time to not be noticed and not have an awkward conversation with other people about why we had arrived together. I wasn't sure when it had started, but people were very much into it, and some far gone already. I pulled out my phone to text Allison quickly that I'd arrived and then left Stiles briefly to go see if I could find her before she replied. Lydia's house could fit two of mine in it, and I could just see her garden with a large swimming pool that must have taken up at least a quarter of the space. I really wanted to know what her parents did for a living, I thought as I zigzagged around the crowd of people to get through the French windows and to the garden. I spotted Lydia and Jackson by a wall, and gave them a wave, receiving a smile in return. There was no sign of Allison or Scott, so they probably hadn't arrived yet, and I felt a bit guilty leaving Stiles to fend for himself…around girls. I found him lingering by the punch bowl in the kitchen, sniffing it curiously and then wrinkling his nose at what I assumed was the strong smell of alcohol.

"Are you okay?"

Stiles jolted, his hand on his heart and breathing heavily.

"God, Alex, don't do that," he exclaimed as I walked over to his side.

"Soooorry. Enjoying the party?" I picked up a few chips from a bowl next to the punch and nibbled on them.

"Yeah, yeah. Really…loving it."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're not a party person are you?"

"Nope."

I patted him on the arm, and passed the chips to him.

"What about you?" he asked, taking the bowl.

"It's okay, I guess. Maybe if I drank the entire punch bowl, it would take the edge off a bit."

Stiles laughed. "I would gladly join you."

"Being serious though, I feel kinda bad that I dragged you along to this...so, sorry. You know you didn't have to agree," I told him. Stiles wasn't having a good time, and as a sort of friend, I felt I needed to make things better by apologising for a crappy night.

Stiles waved it off. "Nah don't worry about it. I only wanted to see Lydia…oh damn, no I didn't mean it like that," he added, seeing my disappointed face.

"It's okay honestly. It doesn't surprise me you only said yes because of her. It's all cool," I told him, and walked off to see if I could find Allison again and get away from the awkward conversation with Stiles.

"Stiles, you are a complete idiot," I overheard him reprimand himself and I glanced back briefly to see him hitting his forehead. I couldn't help but laugh at it. Stiles just had the unfortunate knack of saying the wrong thing…most of the time.

I moved back outside to search for Scott and Allison, finding them standing side by side and unsure of what to do with themselves on their first date. After a while of smiling their way to get their attention, I caught Allison's eye and waved at them to come over. She looked stunning as usual in a simple white shirt, blazer and jeans; like it was no effort at all. Allison slipped her hand in Scott's and led him in my direction, grinning. They seemed more comfortable with each other once they'd spotted me, probably easing the slight tension between them, but I was only guessing because I'd never been on a proper date and didn't know what they were like. I didn't think going for McDonald's for breakfast really counted.

"Alex, hey!" Allison smiled at me and let go of Scott for a moment to hug me. "Scott, this is Alex," she added.

"Hi, nice to meet you. We have English together, don't we?" Scott asked me.

I nodded. "Chemistry too, but I sit behind you so you probably haven't seen me."

"Oh no I remember now. You, er, had the coughing fit?"

I put my hands in my face and then looked up again. "Please don't remind me. Not my finest moment."

Scott laughed and glanced around, observing the grandeur of Lydia's house. Allison leaned in my direction to whisper in my ear.

"Where's Stiles? He did bring you, didn't he?"

Scott's head shot towards us, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Stiles is here?"

"How did you…never mind," Allison said, looking at Scott curiously.

"I kinda left Stiles in the kitchen…alone," I confessed, yet again feeling guilty because I'd chosen Allison and Scott over him. I wasn't really up for a conversation all about Lydia and how he had only taken me to see her. I'd come here for a good time and to not be compared, even though I was pretty sure Stiles wouldn't do that intentionally. I wasn't upset or anything. I hardly knew the guy.

"Why did you leave him there?" Allison asked, trying to see if she could spot Stiles inside.

"I'm not really sure," I lied, not wanting to go into the details, especially in front of Scott who would probably just tell Stiles what I'd said. I wanted to make friends, not push them away.

Allison grabbed my hand and with her other arm, pushed me towards the French windows. "Go find him, Lex," she advised softly, waving goodbye to me and taking Scott further outside to dance near where Lydia and Jackson were having one of their many intimate moments. Having no other friends, I didn't really have much of a choice but to go find Stiles.

I stepped into the kitchen where I'd last seen Stiles, but couldn't find him there, so I moved into the room next to it. There were people making out on the sofas and sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor, chatting, drinking and having a much better time than I was, but there was no Stiles. I searched the entire ground floor but he was nowhere to be seen. The only other place I hadn't checked, after quickly ruling out that he'd gone upstairs with a girl, was out the front. The door was now wide open to let people stream into the party in large groups. It was colder than I'd expected when I stepped outside, and stupidly I'd forgotten to bring a jacket with me. Crossing my arms to conserve warmth, I looked right and left, but whilst doing so, unfortunately caught a couple in the middle of the bushes all over each other, and probably doing things I didn't really want to see. I quickly cast my eyes forward and spotted Stiles' navy blue shirt. He was sitting on the sidewalk, drink in hand and clearly agitated by the way his leg was jittering up and down. That or he was cold, I couldn't tell which.

"Um, hey," I muttered, sitting down beside him with my arms still crossed.

He glanced over at me and immediately started apologising, tripping over his words.

"Stiles, honestly don't worry about it. It's actually me who should be apologising," I admitted. "Sorry I left you…again."

Stiles waved it off and went back to being agitated.

"Are you okay?" I asked, slightly worried by his behaviour.

"Hmm? Oh, er, yeah, fine. It's just Scott…he shouldn't be here."

I frowned, not getting at what he meant. "What do you mean he shouldn't be here?"

His eyes widened as if he'd said something he shouldn't. "Uh, no reason. He…should just be studying, that's all."

"Riiiight," I replied, unsure whether that was the truth, but I wasn't about to get into an argument with Stiles.

Stiles ignored my unconvinced expression and changed the subject. "How are you finding Beacon Hills, by the way?"

I decided to go along with it and jerked my head, smiling. "I don't know what it is but I really like it here. More than England strangely. I just feel…at home. I've only made three friends though."

"Allison…Lydia…who's the third one?"

"Er, you, Stiles. You didn't think I'd fix your computer for nothing did you?" I joked.

"We're friends? I mean, I'm glad we're friends. Like, good friends…I should really learn when to stop talking."

"Probably yes."

"I'll work on that," Stiles promised.

We sat in silence for several minutes, listening to the distant hum of music and voices, before I spoke up. "So, I was wondering, do you wanna da-" I was cut off by Stiles rising abruptly. I followed his gaze to see him staring at Scott, who was clutching his head and running away from the party to his car. Without explanation or a goodbye, Stiles darted into his jeep and drove after him, leaving me to sit there in the cold, without any way to get home.

"Bye then," I muttered in annoyance. I was shocked how quickly Stiles had forgotten I was sitting beside him, and that he needed to take me home. I knew I probably deserved him walking off, considering I'd done that very thing twice, but leaving me to find my own way back late at night? Not cool.

It didn't take long for Allison to come rushing up to me after Stiles and Scott had suddenly left, her expression shifting between hurt and confusion.

"What happened?" I asked urgently.

Allison let out a sigh. "I don't really know. We were dancing…quite intimately, almost about to kiss, and then the next thing I know he's moving away from me and saying he'll be right back."

"He looked like he was in serious pain, maybe he gets migraines?" I suggested, trying to reassure her that there must have been a decent explanation for Scott's behaviour.

She thought for a moment before replying. "Maybe, but why didn't he say something?"

I shrugged and glanced over where Stiles' jeep had been minutes before.

"Where did Stiles go?"

"He drove off after Scott. Look, I know you really like Scott and I'm friends with Stiles, but I think there is definitely something weird going on with them," I admitted to Allison.

Before she could reply, we were interrupted by an unfamiliar deep voice.

"Allison."

We both spun around to see a young man with dark hair, tanned skin and a serious expression, which lightened a bit when he walked over to us. He had a mysterious air about him, and instinct told me not to trust him, especially since I had never met him before, and I didn't know what he wanted with my friend.

"I'm a friend of Scott's. My name's Derek," he told us, or rather just Allison because he continued to ignore me until I spoke up.

"What do you want?" I questioned suspiciously.

Derek's eyes flickered towards me, narrowed for a second as his brow furrowed, and then returned to Allison. Clearly I wasn't interesting enough.

"Scott asked me to take you home. He wanted to make sure you got back safely," Derek smiled at her.

I peered at Allison to see her reaction, but she was not looking as suspicious as I was. Instead, she was eyeing him up and down and considering his offer.

"Allison," I said through gritted teeth and pulling her to one side, "You're not actually thinking of going with him, are you?"

"Well, why not? It was quite sweet of Scott to think of that, if a bit odd," she whispered and turned back to Derek.

"Thanks, that would be great…I don't suppose you could take us both home?"

Derek didn't even bother looking at me before replying, "Just you. Scott insisted."

Allison looked apologetically at me, and with a promise to make it up to me, went with Derek, leaving me to stand alone in the cold in an area I was completely unfamiliar with. It left me with no choice. I reluctantly pulled out my phone to call my mum to come pick me up. She hardly ever had nights out, and here I was, ruining her first one in America. I was such a lovely daughter. It took several tries but in the end, she picked up.

"Hello?" She answered, a tone of panic in her voice.

"Mum, it's me, Alex. Are you alright? You sound-"

"Yes, yes I'm fine," she cut me off, the panic tone gone when she realised it was me, "are you enjoying the party?"

"Not really. I'm sorry to ruin your night, but can you please come pick me up?" I asked as politely as I could manage.

"What happened to Stiles?"

"He, er, had to leave. So, come pick me up? Please?"

I heard a sigh on the other end.

"Alright then. I suppose I did take the car away from you."

I breathed a sigh of relief at not having to endure the party much longer. "Thanks so much, mum."

"I'll be about fifteen minutes. Bye."

"Okay, bye," I said, ending the call and tucking the phone back in the pocket of my jeans. Not long to wait now.

* * *

I woke up at gone one in the afternoon the next day, to an empty house and texts from Stiles that I was probably going to ignore. My mother turned up nearly an hour after I hung up, with traffic as her excuse. By the time we had got home, it was around eleven thirty, but I didn't sleep until three. My brain just couldn't shut off, despite the physical exhaustion I felt, and I didn't really know why. I had texted Allison to make sure she was still alive, and Lydia to thank her for the party. I'd put Scott and Stiles to the back of my mind, and I wasn't thinking about school, so what was it? Maybe the way Derek had looked at me; something I couldn't quite work out. It was a mixture between shock, confusion and something else I couldn't put my finger on. Whatever it was, it made me uncomfortable, so perhaps that's why I found it hard to sleep.

I'd decided a day in pyjamas was necessary, since I was neither in the mood for studying nor company. I ventured downstairs and poured some cereal into a bowl, cut up an apple, and waited for my tea to brew whilst checking my phone. I had three texts from Stiles, all apologies for last night, but I decided I couldn't be bothered to reply just yet. He could wait a little longer. When the tea was ready, I took my food and went back upstairs to watch films in bed. I started with the classic chick flicks, like Mean Girls, which I must have watched at least ten times, and the Princess Diaries. When I was much younger, and had just seen the film, I would wish every night that people would knock on the door, tell me I was royalty and whisk me away to a new life. It was a nice dream to have, if completely unrealistic. But then, that was the point of dreams, wasn't it?

After the first movie had finished, I decided to see exactly what Stiles had texted me.

 _From: Stiles_

 _Alex, I'm so so so sorry about last night. I know I messed up big time, please text back?_

About ten minutes after the first one he had texted again.

 _Sorry sorry sorry. I'll make it up to you. Reply please!_

And then around half an hour later, another one.

 _Alex, I know you're mad, but I'm really freaking out that you haven't texted back. Please don't be dead or anything. Sorry again._

My fingers itched to type back but I was in two minds whether to or not. On one hand, Stiles had totally screwed up by leaving me with nearly no way to get home, and on the other, he had at least apologised multiple times. It wasn't hard to see how sorry he was. I decided to ask Allison for her opinion, so I quickly called her.

"Hey, what's up?" Her voice chirped at the other end.

"Stiles. Do I text back or not?"

"Straight to the point, I like it. Hmm, has he said he's sorry?"

I hesitated before replying. "Yeah…so I guess I should reply?"

"Or you could wait until Monday to talk to him properly?" Allison suggested.

"Okay, I'll do that. Have you talked to Scott at all?" I asked curiously.

Allison sighed. "No, I don't know whether to give him a second chance or not."

"Go with your heart, Allison. Anyway this was just a quick call, but thanks. I'll see you on Monday, bye!"

"Bye!"

* * *

Monday rolled around far too quickly for my liking. Not only did it mean another long week of school, but also another awkward conversation with a certain boy, that I really didn't want to have. I'd neglected texting him after talking to Allison, and I knew I couldn't avoid him forever. I hadn't seen him all morning, so I decided to let him come to me to apologise. I wasn't sure what I'd say to him if I had to begin the conversation. So, instead of eating in the cafeteria where he would almost definitely be, I ate my lunch in the library whilst I worked.

"A-Alex?"

I looked up from a particularly difficult chemistry problem to see Stiles' familiar face. His expression was a mixture of anxiety and sadness, making me feel slightly guilty for avoiding him. I'd spent Friday night feeling the same way, for a good reason, and now that damn feeling was back again.

"Can I sit down?" He asked tentatively.

I nodded and gestured to a chair next to me. He sat down quickly and put his elbows on the table, clasping his hands together. Stiles opened his mouth several times and closed it again, not sure where to start. I wrung my hands, glancing down at them every so often. My eyes moved around the library, focusing on anything and anyone but Stiles/

"I'm sorry about the other night. About…leaving you at Lydia's," he got out eventually.

I slowly brought my gaze back to him. "What happened? Why did you leave?"

"Scott wasn't feeling well."

"Is that all?" I asked, unsure whether to believe him or not.

Stiles hesitated before replying. "Y-yes."

I sighed and shut my textbook, growing impatient with him.

"Stiles, tell me the truth. You don't just leave someone stranded at a party with no goodbye without there being a good reason. What really happened?"

"I wish I could tell you…I do!" He added after I rolled my eyes. "Can you please trust me on this?"

"And why should I?"

Stiles shifted his head and cocked his eyebrow. "Because I'm awesome, clearly!"

I tried not to smile, but there was something about Stiles that meant I couldn't stay mad at him for long, so I eventually, and unwillingly, gave in.

"See, there's the reaction I've been looking for. Good girl," Stiles said, nodding in approval.

I laughed this time. "I'll trust you, but you've got to promise that you'll tell me one day, okay?"

"Deal. So…still friends?"

"Hmm, still friends," I agreed and punched his shoulder lightly.

 **This chapter is a bit shorter than the others but the next ones will be longer as we get into Episode 2! Thanks for reading! -Ellie xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

"So I heard Jackson got injured during lacrosse practice this afternoon?" Allison's worried voice snapped me out of my daydream.

"Huh?"

"Were you even listening to any of the conversation we just had?" Lydia asked, clearly annoyed that I hadn't been paying attention to her and Allison.

"Er...not really, sorry," I replied, giving her an innocent smile to apologise. The sad thing was that I was more interested in my daydream about food than I was about whatever Lydia and Allison were discussing. Perhaps I shouldn't tell them that, though.

Lydia shook her head and turned her gaze back to Allison. This time, just to please her, I listened in on the conversation.

"You heard right. Some...idiot..." Lydia said, raising her perfectly shaped eyebrows, "decided it would be a good idea to ram into my boyfriend two days before the first game, and now he might not be able to play."

"Scott?" I asked. I had heard something vaguely along those lines that afternoon in French class.

"Yes, him," Lydia huffed, tossing her strawberry blonde waves over her shoulder. She had driven Allison and I to the mall after school to get some more outfits. Apparently she didn't have enough, something I found hard to believe, and retail therapy was the only way to calm her down after Jackson's _unfortunate_ injury.

"Surely he'll be okay, though?" Allison tried to reassure Lydia. "Lydia picked up a deep blue dress from the nearest rack, and hung it over her arm, sighing.

"Who knows? And if your boyfriend doesn't get his act together and play on Saturday night, we'll lose out on the Championships this year. Jackson is not a loser. I don't date losers."

"And Scott is not my boyfriend."

"Close enough!"

Allison glanced over at me with a despairing look. I pointed to the shoe section and then at Lydia, raising my shoulders slightly. Luckily, Allison got the hint and nodded.

"Hey, Lydia, why don't we go try on all the shoes we can before closing time?"

Lydia thought for a moment. "Hmm...okay!" She smiled, perking up a bit and linking her arm with Allison's. "Come on, Alex," she called, glancing back at me.

I followed suit, glad my plan had worked in distracting Lydia from the subject of lacrosse and her boyfriend's uncertain future. We spent the next hour or so amongst masses of shoes until the mall closed and, much to Lydia's dismay, we had to leave. I don't think I'd ever met someone who loved shopping more than Lydia Martin. I only really owned two pairs of shoes, my Converse and black boots, so in a way it was nice to try something different. Lydia rushed to pay for a few items she'd picked up before we got kicked out. Well, when I say a few, what I really meant was about twenty, which was apparently the same thing in Lydia's vocabulary. There was no mention of Scott or Jackson on the journey home, to my relief. I wasn't ready to get into an argument about how Jackson was nearly always a douche, especially to Scott, and probably deserved it, with one of the only friends I had made. I may not have always got on with her, but without these two girls, I'd be eating lunch in the toilets like I was living in some teen movie. Lydia dropped me and Allison off together, since we only lived a few blocks apart, and Lydia lived in the opposite direction. We said our goodbyes and then I headed off. I was just around the corner from my house when I bumped into a familiar figure.

"Sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," I smiled at him, adjusting my jacket.

"Oh hey Alex."

"Hey Scott...what are you doing around here?"

Scott shuffled his feet, avoiding any direct eye contact. "Umm...nothing. I was just on my way home."

"Oh I didn't realise you lived round here," I said, surprised as I hadn't seen him in this area before.

"I don't. I just like to run, quite far," Scott uttered, pausing frequently as if he had to be careful about what he said.

"Sounds tiring. I like to run but when it's a choice between Game of Thrones and dying out in the freezing cold, I think I'd choose the first option."

"Isn't Game of Thrones basically...porn?"

I nodded, chuckling a bit. "You could say that, but I promise there is way more to it than meets the eye. Try it some day. But anyway, I'll let you get back because I'm desperate for food. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you later Alex. Um, have a good evening." Scott stepped around me and ran off, but not before he waved goodbye.

"Bye Scott."

I laughed at his awkwardness and jogged down the street to my house. He and Stiles were as bad as each other. They were both pretty useless around girls.

"Hi sweetheart. Tea's on the table," my dad welcomed me from the dinner table, as I walked into the kitchen and threw my keys onto the counter. He looked up from the huge pile of files he had in front of him and gave me one of the warm smiles I loved.

"Thanks dad. Wheyrg myumga?" I asked him through a mouthful of toast.

"Sorry what was that?"

I swallowed and took a sip of tea. I was seriously addicted to the stuff. "Where's mother?"

My dad took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose, setting them down on the table.

"She's gone out," he stated bluntly.

I groaned. "You two haven't been fighting again, have you?"

"That is between your mother and I."

"Aw, come on, dad. I'm not a child anymore," I said, gulping down the rest of my tea.

"Fine. Yes, we had a fight but that's not why she left. She had a meeting with a client."

"This late?" I wondered as my father nodded.

My mum was a book publisher, and she spent all day reading potential bestsellers in her study and going to meetings with her clients. She was quite secretive of her work, which I wasn't surprised at considering any material leaks would mean the end of her career, and I knew she'd hate getting my dad to pay for everything. In any case, I hardly saw her because she was always busy. But when I did, and we both had time, she'd make it up to me by cooking my favourite meal or taking me to the cinema. Since we'd moved, there had been none of that, and the times when I saw her were getting more and more infrequent.

"Lexie," my dad said, a soft tone to his voice. He had turned away from the important files on the table to face me fully.

"Hmm?"

"I know things have tough since we got here, but I promise once things are sorted, we can get out of here."

"What things?"

He smiled, patting my hand as I perched on the table edge beside him, eating the rest of the toast he'd made me.

"Nothing for you to worry about. Business stuff."

But I did worry. I worried all evening and into the next day up until I caught Allison staring curiously into her locker.

"Whatcha doing?" I asked, sneaking up behind her and making her jump. I leaned against the lockers and folded my arms. The bell rang loudly, signalling the start of the next class. We were so gonna be late.

"I was sure I left my jacket at the party. So how did it end up here?" Allison pondered, looking confused.

I thought for a moment. "Well I'm pretty sure you were wearing it when we met that creepy guy. Maybe he gave it to Scott to give it to you?" I suggested as she shut her locker and walked with me down the corridor.

"I suppose so. Or maybe it was just Lydia? I don't know. Anyway, we're all going out after the game and you're coming."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope." Allison grinned at me and adjusted her bag strap on her shoulder.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Fine. Who is actually going?"

"Me, you, Scott, Lydia, Jackson and Stiles."

"So it's basically a double date with me and Stiles on the side?"

Allison laughed, running her hand through her dark curls. "That's one way to look at it, but I promise it will be fun!"

"Okay, okay," I said, defeated.

"Do you just not like people or something?"

 _Or something._

I shrugged, stopping for a moment outside the classroom.

"It's not really that. I just uh...get really bad migraines and I'm worried I'll ruin your evening," I told her, only half-lying. I'd neglected to tell anyone the truth of why we really left England. We never discussed it at home. Ever.

Allison looked at me in concern and touched my arm lightly. "That's awful...you know, you could just see how you feel and then decide?"

I nodded and thanked her as we walked into French class. Although I had spent a year in France when I was ten, I didn't quite have the knack for French. Allison, on the other hand, was great at it. In all fairness, her family was actually French, so it would make sense that she'd be naturally talented at the language. I would need a whole lot longer than a year in France to become somewhat good at French.

"Sorry we're late," I mumbled to the French teacher, whose name was so complicated that I could never pronounce it, let alone remember it.

Miss what's her name nodded curtly and gestured to two seats right at the front of the class. I shot Allison a look of disgust, and she grimaced back. I hated being right at the front in subjects I struggled with. It was like I was being punished for not understanding the difference between 'le' and 'la', and when to use them. Why did nearly everything have to be masculine or feminine? It just made it all so much more difficult.

At lunch, I let Allison wander off to find Lydia down the hallway whilst I put away my French textbooks in my locker. I slammed it shut and turned round, propping myself against it as I scanned the rest of the corridor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stiles grab Scott from his locker and push him over to the stairs. I frowned in curiosity and edged closer towards them, following their line of vision to find the Sheriff, a Deputy and the Principal talking in hushed tones.

"Curfew because of the body," I heard Scott whisper. I wasn't sure how he could hear from that far away, but I was impressed.

"Unbelievable! My dad's out looking for a rabid animal while the jerk off who killed the girl is just hangin' around, doing what he wants?"

"He? I thought it was an animal?" I interrupted, frightening the life out of the two boys who whirled around to face me.

"Aaaah, hey Alex," Stiles greeted me, raising an arm to rest it behind his head as he scratched his neck. Must have been a nervous habit. He seemed to have a lot of those.

"Did Stiles say 'he'? Cause he meant 'it', didn't you...Stiles?" Scott smiled awkwardly.

"I did? I mean, yeah, yeah...I did, obviously." Stiles let out a laugh.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Well, whatever. Animal...completely mental psychopathic killer...who knows?"

Stiles opened his mouth but nothing came out. I watched as the boys gave each other weird looks.

"I was joking..." I said, waving my hands about. "Of course it's an animal."

"Yeah, definitely. There's no psychopathic killers around here, right, Stiles?" Scott nudged his best friend.

"Nope," he said, popping the p. "None at all."

I smiled. "Good, cause otherwise I'm outta here. Um, I should probably go. I've got an...appointment. See you guys later," I said with a wave as I rushed down the hall. I was going to be late.

* * *

"Miss Hart? Dr. Stevens will see you now," the kind-looking receptionist announced as she came over to me, smiling with her clipboard in hand.

"Thank you," I replied, picking up my bag and heading over my doctor's private room. I'd had an appointment for one-thirty but the hospital had stupidly double-booked most of the appointments, so it was way after four when I managed to see Dr. Stevens. It wasn't even my idea to go see a psychiatrist, but after what happened back in London, I was being forced to go.

I pushed down on the handle and the door opened with a click. Dr. Stevens was busy typing some notes on his computer as I went to sit down on the comfy blue chair in front of him. As I crossed my legs, he looked up from his notes and smiled.

"Good afternoon Alexandra, sorry for the wait." His voice was both rough and calming at the same time. It wasn't hard to see why he was a psychiatrist. There was just something relaxing about his presence.

"It's fine," I replied with a warm smile.

"So, tell me how you're feeling since our last session."

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. "Er, okay I guess. I've settled into school alright and made a couple of friends."

"That's good progress. Still having nightmares about what happened?"

"Sometimes. Maybe once or twice a week."

The doctor jotted a few things down on the notepad he had sitting on his lap.

"And how do they make you feel afterwards?"

I sighed. "Bad. I still wake up sweating...having a panic attack I suppose. It's been a year though, so why am I still feeling like this?"

"It can take a long time to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder. Especially in your case, when you still blame yourself," he replied softly, giving me a sympathetic look.

I lowered my eyes to my fingers, which were absent-mindedly tugging on a loose thread on my top.

"How can I not? It was my fault...still is."

"What happened to your brother is not your fault. You're the only person who blames you."

"That's because no one else knows what really went on that night!" I almost shouted, getting angry now. I wasn't angry with Dr. Stevens, but with myself for what I did. What no one knew I did.

He gazed at me sadly, and nodded. "I understand. But if you can't open up to me, with what you say being strictly confident, then how will you ever open up to your parents?"

I ducked my head, my eyes prickling with tears. I wiped them away quickly, not wanting the doctor to see how badly our session was getting to me. I had the feeling he noticed, though.

"I know, I know. Just give me a little more time, please?" I asked desperately.

Dr. Stevens smiled. "You have as long as you need."

"Thank you."

I rose from my chair and exited the room to see Lydia sitting in the other waiting area just down the hall. I strolled towards her, desperately needing a chat to distract me from the worst doctor's appointment ever. I wasn't the only one who wanted to talk to Lydia, however. It seemed Stiles might have taken my advice after all. Sitting down on one of the squishy chairs just around the corner from them, I sneakily listened in to their conversation.

"Hey, Lydia...you probably don't remember me, um, I sit behind you in Biology," Stiles said, tugging at his shirt.

There was no reply from Lydia, so Stiles carried on.

"Uh, anyway, I've always thought that we've just had this kinda connection...uh, unspoken of course..."

I snorted quietly, covering my mouth so I didn't laugh too much.

"Maybe it would be kinda cool to get to know each other a little better?"

"Hold on, gimme a sec," I heard Lydia reply. "Uh, yeah I didn't get any of what you just said. So, is it worth repeating?" she asked bluntly.

This time I had to put my fist in my mouth just to keep me from laughing. I knew it was cruel, but this was definitely the best thing that had happened all week.

"Uh, um, nooo," Stiles eventually got out, "Sorry..."

I jumped a little in my seat as Stiles backed away from Lydia, leaning as far away as possible.

"Um, imma...just sit...you don't care."

Not sure where Stiles was going to put himself, I watched in surprise as he leaned back...to sit right on top of me.

"Argh, Stiles!" I squealed as Stiles crushed me. He leapt up immediately and spun round, eyes wide.

"Oh God, I, er, didn't see you there. Sorry Alex!"

Stiles stepped to the side and bent down to sit in the chair beside me. In his hand, he held a pamphlet for the menstrual cycle. I pointed at it and laughed, earning a look of confusion from him.

"What?"

"I didn't realise you were so interested in the evil monthly cycle us women have to endure? Wait...are you secretly a girl?" I said, giggling.

He peered down at the leaflet in his hand, and raised his eyebrows. "Uh, actually, it's for a Biology project I'm doing. And no, I'm definitely not a girl."

"Aaaah, it all makes sense now. What are you doing here, really?"

Stiles slid down his chair, opening the pamphlet. "Just waiting for Scott. His mom works here, so..."

"Oh okay," I said, unsure of what else to say. We sat in silence for a few minutes until Stiles continued the conversation.

"Alex, what are _you_ doing here?"

"My appointment remember? I told you and Scott earlier. I had to wait for aaaages though, which is why I'm still here."

"Unlucky...what was it for?"

I hesitated, not sure what to say. "Uhh, sexual health clinic? I needed advice...on my sexual health."

Stiles went pink, something he did quite often around me and my stupid mouth, and I would have done anything for the ground to open up and swallow me whole right there and then. Now he probably thought I had something wrong with me sexually, or I was sleeping around, or even both.

"Ohhhh, right, gotcha..." Stiles said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and sliding down his seat a bit. "Oh my God, can this day get any worse?" Stiles sunk even lower into his seat. I knew exactly what he meant.

I looked around Stile to see that Jackson Whittemore, my favourite person in the entire world, was also here. It was like a high school reunion, but at a hospital. I assumed Jackson was here on account of his separated shoulder because he was rubbing it as he strutted over to his girlfriend. I wasn't expecting a hello or anything, but some recognition would have been nice, considering I was friends with Lydia. It was Jackson though. Civility wasn't really his forte.

"Did you do it?" Lydia asked, getting up from her seat, her heels clicking loudly on the linoleum floor.

"He said not to make a habit of it, but one cortisone shot won't kill me."

"You should get one right before the game too," Lydia told him, and Jackson scowled. "The pros do it all the time." Lydia folded her arms. I couldn't see what look she was giving Jackson but I'm pretty sure it was a sassy one. "Do you wanna be a little high school amateur? Or..." she trailed off, stepping forwards, "Do you want to go pro?"

Lydia touched her nose to Jackson's, and then leaned in to kiss him, smiling when she realised she'd got her way.

"Bleurgh," Stiles said, sounding disgusted.

"Who doesn't love a bit of PDA?" I said sarcastically.

"A bit of what?" Stiles asked, still looking at Lydia and Jackson.

"Public display of affection, it's whe-"

"Holy God!" Stiles exclaimed, interrupting me as Scott suddenly appeared and plucked the pamphlet from his hands. I didn't even realise he was still reading it. It must have been interesting.

"The scent was the same," Scott told him.

Stiles leapt up and whispered, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Er...hey Alex," Scott greeted me, eyes widening as he noticed my confused face.

I tilted my head up in recognition. "Hi..."

"Oh, er, Scott meant that the scent of the Chinese food he bought his mum for dinner was the same...so she, uh, liked it," Stiles said quickly, realising I was still there.

"Yeah, she was very grateful...for it smelling the same."

"Oooookay, I think I'll leave you two guys to it then," I said, giving them a small smile as I slung my school bag over my shoulder.

"We can hang out later if you want?" Stiles suggested, and Scott nodded in agreement.

"Er, I can't sorry. Got homework and stuff. I gotta go." I pointed my fingers behind me, gesturing to the exit. I stepped backwards and swivelled round, walking away as quick as I could.

"So weird," I muttered to myself, reaching inside my pocket for the car keys that were jangling in time to my steps. That was the second time I'd caught those two in the middle of an odd conversation. Either they had some really weird hobby or there was something else going on. I couldn't decide if I wanted to know or not.

I got home in good time, rushing upstairs to shut myself in my room before the parents could ask me about my therapy session. I'd rather not discuss how I almost broke down and cried in front of my doctor, and how what happened wasn't my fault. I could still see in their eyes that they thought it was my fault, and I didn't blame them. I switched on the laptop that I'd left on my desk and logged in to Skype, desperate to talk to someone. I clicked on Katie's name, knowing she'd probably still be at school, but it was worth a try.

"Omg Alex! Hey!" I heard Katie's excited voice call out.

"Hey Katherine, why can't I see you?"

"Eww please don't call me that. I've already told my parents I'm changing my name as soon as I'm 18. Oh, and my webcam may have broken."

"Okay Katherine," I replied, chuckling. "How did you break it?"

"I sat on it."

I laughed. "You are just something else. And why are you not at school?" I asked, sounding like a disapproving mother.

"Wow it's like we're playing twenty questions today. I'm ill, can't you hear the croaky male voice I have right now?"

"Not really, the connection's not good enough for that. You just sound like a man."

"We both know my voice is angelic," she sang out before sniggering.

"Yeah right...anyway, I really need to talk to you."

There was a pause for minute or two, like the connection had dropped suddenly.

"Oh, er, Alex I'm so sorry, but I'm busy right now. Can we do this another time?"

I sighed, reminding myself that it would be hard to maintain a long-distance friendship with Katie. She was one of those people that required almost constant contact to stay close friends with you. I would've been better off calling someone else, but the only person I'd tell apart from Katie, I could never talk to again. Allison was another option, but I was afraid I didn't know her well enough to have a deep conversation just yet. Especially not one this personal.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll talk to you soon," I mumbled, not sure if she would hear me or not.

"Sorry. Love you! Bye!"

"Love you too."

I ended the call and flopped back onto the bed, wrapping myself in the blanket that was scrunched up on the duvet. It didn't take long for it to hit me that I had no one to talk to about my problems. My parents were out of the question, I rarely got the chance to talk to Katie, all my other friends back home wouldn't help me, and I wasn't close enough to talk to Allison. There was no way I was going to tell Scott, Stiles or Lydia either. I was completely alone, and part of me just wanted to cry because I was too weak enough to get the guts to tell someone. I wiped away the tears forming in the corner of my eyes, and sat up, letting out a deep breath. I looked over to my desk and saw that my running gear was still draped over my chair. It was dark outside, and I hadn't eaten for a while, but I knew I needed to clear my head somehow, and to stop feeling sorry for myself. So, I hopped up off the bed and quickly got changed before I went downstairs to tell my parents I was going out.

"I'm going for a quick run. See ya later!" I called out, smoothing my hair back into a ponytail.

"Wait Lex," my mum appeared from the kitchen. "Have you had something to eat?"

I shrugged. "I did at lunch. But I'm not hungry yet, so I'll cook when I'm back. Is that okay?"

My mum sighed, rubbing her eyes. She looked tired and stressed, and just generally under the weather. It wasn't unusual for her to be like that, especially when she had a demanding client who wanted everything done and dusted within a week. I stepped up to her and wrapped my arms around her small waist. She stiffened for a moment, surprised at my sudden affection towards her, but quickly relaxed and hugged me back. I wouldn't admit it to her, but I had missed this. There was something about being in her arms that me feel warm and at home. My mum lifted her hand from my back to stroke my hair, but I pulled away before she could.

"Um, I won't be long, mum. I promise."

"Okay Alexandra, but I want you back long before the curfew," she said, folding her arms. The loving mother I had just experienced was gone, as if she'd shut off her emotions again. She'd done that a lot recently, and I knew it was my fault.

"I will be."

The forest was just as silent, and even more creepy, than it had been when I'd lost myself at the edge of it the week before. This time, I ventured further into it, wanting to know where those strange red circles, or whatever they were, had come from. I jogged through the trees for what must have been fifteen minutes, almost tripping over the branches scattered on the forest floor. Then, I heard two deep voices, not too far away from me. I started forwards, wondering who else would be in the woods. This time, I did trip over a branch, landing face down on the ground with a loud thud.

"Great," I mumbled to myself, noticing my palms were slightly wet with blood and mud. Getting up, I quickly wiped them on my top, flinching at the pain, and continued on towards the voices. As I got nearer, I heard the scraping sounds of metal against soil, and the glowing of a flashlight.

"This is taking way too long," I overheard one of the men say.

"Just keep going," the other one said.

I knew that voice. I was completely sure I did. I jogged forward a bit more, stopping behind a tree that was thick enough to cover my body so I couldn't be seen by the men. Peeking around the tree, I saw Scott and Stiles, armed with shovels, digging furiously into the ground outside a derelict house. I knew these two were weird, but this was just something else altogether. And why did I always find them in the middle of a conversation I couldn't make sense of? It was like I was drawn to weirdness.

"What if he comes back?" Scott whispered aggressively.

"Then we get the hell outta here!"

"What if he catches us?"

"Then I have a plan for that."

"Which is?"

Stiles stopped digging and stood upright, leaning on his shovel. "You run one way, I run the other. Whoever he catches first, too bad."

Scott shook his head and made a face at Stiles. "I hate that plan!"

I squinted to try and see what was going on more quickly. Suddenly, a dull thud echoed around the trees.

"Alright, stop, stop, stop!" Stiles held out a hand to stop Scott digging. They bent down, going out of sight so that the only thing I knew was what they were saying.

"Hurry!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying."

I don't know what happened down in the pit they had dug, but all I could hear was Scott and Stiles screaming, making me jump from behind tree, and almost fall backwards onto the ground. I watched as they rushed out of the pit, their eyes wide in horror at what they'd seen.

"What the hell is that?!" Stiles exclaimed, flailing his arms about.

"It's a wolf!"

"Yeah, I can see that!" Stiles replied, breathing deeply. "I thought you said you could smell blood? As in _human_ blood?"

"I told you something was different."

"This...doesn't make sense."

Yeah, tell me about it Stiles. I didn't have a clue what you were doing here or what was going on. Who the hell was this guy they kept going on about? First at school, when they were talking about that girl being killed and I could have sworn Stiles meant 'he' instead of 'it', then the scent thing at the hospital and now this. I leant against the tree trunk and took a deep breath, sliding down it to sit on the ground. I rubbed my forehead and let my eyes shut sleepily, wondering what to think of the whole situation. The only thing I knew was that I was too tired to make sense of it all. I liked the boys, but there was something really strange going on in this town, and it had something to do with them. I was determined to find out what.

 **Hey guys, sorry this chapter came out a bit later than I was expecting! I managed to wipe all the data off my phone and laptop, so I spent ages trying to sort that out :( I hope you enjoyed this one, and please please please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts :) -Ellie xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

The night of the big game had arrived, and Lydia and Allison were so excited that I'd received a knock on my door at nine am, waking me from the best sleep I'd had in ages. I shuffled slowly to open the front door, and stood there in the doorway for several minutes, eyes half-closed with sleep and looking at my friends in a very confused way.

"You look awful," Lydia said matter-of-factly, "What happened to your hair?"

"Wait, what? What do you mean?" I asked, patting my wavy hair to feel that it was very matted and sticking up all over the place.

"Sorry to say it Lex, but you look like you had a rough night," Allison chipped in and I groaned, trying to flatten my unruly hair down and unfortunately not succeeding.

"So, are you going to let us in?" Lydia asked impatiently, tapping her foot on the ground, and bringing me to the realisation that I'd let my friends stand in the cold for ages whilst I woke up properly.

I hesitated for a moment. "Oh, yeah, course. Come on in guys. I'll be right back," I said, pointing upstairs to where the bathroom was.

Lydia, who was followed closely by Allison, stepped into my house, heading straight for the kitchen to sit down by the island. I left them to chat as I headed to the bathroom to clean up a bit. I wasn't in any mood to shower and change clothes, so I stayed in my pyjamas. I was sure Allison and Lydia wouldn't mind that much. After brushing my hair, teeth and splashing some cold water on my face, I returned to the kitchen, hopefully looking somewhat better than I did when I opened the door.

"I don't mean to be rude, but why are you two here so early?" I wondered, grabbing a few bowls and glasses from the cupboard and setting them down on the island counter, just in case they were hungry.

"Lydia said she texted you last night, saying we were coming early to have a girls day before the game tonight," Allison replied, and Lydia nodded in agreement.

I put a few packets of cereal, some waffles and juice down beside bowls, and then sat beside my friends.

"Oh right, I didn't get the text. Sounds fun, though."

"Are you sure you're okay with it?"

"Definitely. To be honest, I could do with some girl time," I said, pouring some juice into my glass and taking a sip. "Help yourselves by the way," I gestured to the food and drink I'd got out. Realising I'd forgotten the milk, I hopped off my stool and went to the fridge to find some.

Lydia took a waffle and Allison poured herself a bowl of Lucky Charms, topping it up with the milk I'd just got out. I did the same as Lydia, but took three instead as I was feeling extra hungry after not eating the night before.

"Excited for tonight?"

"Jackson's playing so of course I am. Thankfully Scott didn't do any lasting harm," Lydia said with a look in Allison's direction.

"I told you that to make up for it, I would make and hold the sign at the game tonight."

"It isn't you who should be making it up to me...but I'll accept that."

I rolled my eyes and dribbled golden syrup over my waffles. "What's this sign then?"

"We're making a sign to boost Jackson's confidence for tonight's game. It will give us a better chance of winning if he's at his peak."

More like boost his ego, I thought to myself.

"I've got some glitter and paint, if you want to use it?"

"Ooh that's perfect, thank you Alex!" Lydia smiled at me.

"You're welcome. Isn't Scott playing as well tonight?" I asked, turning to Allison, who blushed at the mention of Scott's name and nodded.

I wiggled my eyebrows at her suggestively, causing her to giggle, and Lydia shook her head in disapproval.

"I don't know what you see him in, Allison."

"Hey, he's sweet and kind and lovely and-"

"Here she goes again. I'm guessing she texted you too when Scott asked her to your party?" I asked Lydia.

"I got like a million of them. I couldn't really tell she was excited or anything," Lydia joined in with teasing Allison.

We talked for about another hour, teasing Allison about her mega crush on Scott, and discussing other typical girl things like what brand of make up we used (I had no idea how many there were in America) and also what England was like to get Lydia off the topic of which foundation was best to use for my skin colour. The next hours were spent making Jackson's poster and watching films. Lydia and Allison did most of the poster, since they were much better at creative things than I was. I didn't have much of a choice after Lydia saw my attempt to do bubble writing, snatched the paper from my hands and announced that I was on glitter duty instead. I didn't really mind, not wanting to get on Lydia's bad side, something which was probably quite easy when it concerned her boyfriend. I received a text from Stiles halfway through sprinkling silver glitter on the poster, and made a mental note to reply to it later, since I avoided replying to one from the previous night after catching him and Scott digging outside a burnt down house. I had run home and gone straight to bed without food, trying to think of what situations would lead to two people driving to that house and shovelling a pit deep enough to fit someone in. I had fallen asleep dreaming up what their reasons could be, and then put it to the back of my mind whilst I was with Allison and Lydia.

At three, we ordered two pizzas, realising we'd missed lunch and it was too long until dinner to wait for food. I picked up a few slices of ham and pineapple pizza, stuffing them into my mouth.

"That is disgusting," Lydia muttered.

"Well I bet you can't fit more than three in your mouth at once," I retorted after swallowing my pizza.

"Oh it's on. I'll show you just what the queen bee can do."

Lydia picked up five pieces and rolled them into one big pizza pancake, popping it in between her brightly painted lips. After a couple of minutes, she swallowed and clapped her hands.

"Beat that English girl!"

I burst out laughing, Lydia and Allison joining in after exchanging a glance. It was nice to finally have some time away from school with the two girls, and get away from the mystery that surrounded Stiles and Scott. I knew that if I was going to find out the truth about what was going on in this town, I'd have to get closer to them, and find a way to get them to trust me with whatever they were holding back.

"I'm sorry to break this up, but I have to get back. I promised my dad I'd be home before the game," Allison said, rising from the sofa where we'd been watching films all afternoon.

"I'm meeting Jackson at his, so I'd better go as well." Lydia joined Allison in getting up.

I nodded and smiled. "It was great having you both here, thanks for cheering me up."

Allison stepped forward and squeezed my arm before leaving with Lydia in her Beetle. It felt odd to be alone after spending most of the day with them. It wasn't too bad though since I'd be seeing them later. After I waved goodbye to my friends, I pulled out my phone and typed a reply to Stiles' 'Are you coming to the game tonight?', and then threw my phone on the sofa before dashing upstairs and into the shower. I ran my fingers through my soaked hair, breathing in the steam and closing my eyes. The smell of my lavender shampoo was so relaxing that for a time, until I heard a loud ringing from the home phone, I forgot that I was in the shower. I dashed out of the shower, wrapping a towel around myself and headed across the landing to get the phone from my parent's room.

"Hello?"

"Alex, where are you? The game's about to start!" Allison's panicked voice answered.

"Oh shit, I didn't realise how long I was in the shower. The water bill is going to be sky high."

"Well get over here!" I heard Lydia shout down the phone.

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

I hung up the phone and ran into my room, quickly drying myself and pulling on a pair of black leggings, white t-shirt and a hoodie. I slipped on a pair of boots, tied them up and pulled a brush through my very wet hair. There was no time for make up or anything else if I didn't want to be skinned alive by Lydia Martin. On the other hand, she'd probably also disapprove of my boyish appearance. It was a tough choice, but I'd rather be alive to watch the game, since it was the first one I'd ever seen. I still couldn't believe I'd spent over two hours in the shower. It was like the world had stopped spinning whilst I was in there, and I couldn't even remember what I'd been thinking about. I must have been more relaxed than I thought, I told myself.

My parents were away for the weekend, something they did quite often, and had only taken my dad's car, leaving me with the keys to my mum's. I hopped in the car and drove to the school as fast as I could without breaking the legal limit. Once I'd parked, I half-ran, half-skipped over to the field where Lydia and Allison were standing by the benches, waiting for me to arrive. The two teams were on the field, warming up as I came to a stop beside my friends.

"I thought...you said...the game was about...to start," I panted, bending over to catch my breath.

"It was, but then there were a few delays, so it's starting in five minutes instead," Allison replied, looking apologetic at the fact that I'd rushed to get there in time.

"Ah, so it's your fault I look so bad."

"It's an improvement over earlier, and at least you're warm now" Lydia said, shrugging her shoulders and shivering.

"At least that's something."

"Sorry!" Allison said, slightly too enthusiastically and took my arm, leading me up the benches to sit down.

I spotted a leg jittering up and down beside a lower bench, and followed it up to see the person it was attached to. Unsurprisingly, Stiles sat nervously in his lacrosse gear, not playing because he hadn't yet made it to first line. He looked so innocent with his eyebrows knitted in concern, presumably for Scott's first game, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he and Scott were up to something bad. He was my friend, and yet I didn't know much about him. Granted, he knew barely anything about me, but maybe that made it easier for what I was going to do. I still felt bad about using him to get to the truth, but I was convinced it was the right thing to do. You could say my curiosity got the better of me when I made that decision. He turned his head, catching my eye and gave me a goofy grin, which I returned with a small smile.

"Lex, this is my dad. Dad, this is my friend Alex," Allison announced, introducing me to her dad who was sitting beside her, and taking my attention away from Stiles.

"Hi Alex," her dad said, smiling and holding out a hand for me to shake. He had dark hair that was beginning to go grey and blue-green eyes, which the smile did not reach.

"Hi Mr Argent, nice to meet you," I said politely and shook his hand, surprised at how rough it was.

"Likewise. Allison tells me you're friends with Scott McCall?" He asked, still grinning, but there was something slightly different about it.

"Er, sort of. We have a few of the same classes, but I'm closer with his best friend."

"I see. Allison also tells me he's very good at Lacrosse."

"Yeah, from what I've seen. I haven't been here long enough to judge," I replied with a short laugh.

Mr Argent nodded and turned his gaze back to the field where the players were getting into position to start. I watched as Lydia and Allison looked tensely at their boyfriends, or rather in Allison's case, prospective boyfriend. But my attention was soon drawn to something else, or should I say someone else. I pulled my glasses out of my pocket and gave them a quick clean so I could see more clearly. There at the edge of the field, eyes firmly on the players and hardly blinking, was Derek Hale. I followed his line of vision to see that he was watching Scott, who was waiting for the game to begin. What was he doing here, and why was he looking at Scott? It was just another thing that didn't add up.

 **Sorry this chapter is so short! It's a bit of a filler chapter to let Alex bond with Allison and Lydia...who doesn't love some girl time? I promise the next chapter will be much longer. Just wanted to say thanks for the follows and favourites, they all mean so much to me! Lots of love -Ellie xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

The whistle blew, making me jump. My attention switched back to the Lacrosse game I was supposed to be watching to see that we had the ball and were hopefully on the way to our first goal. Derek Hale was now firmly in the back of my mind. I glanced down at Stiles again, laughing quietly to myself when I saw he was chewing on his gloves nervously. There were a few passes between the Beacon Hills players, but one of them collided with a player from the opposing team, and the ball spun into the air and landed on the ground not far from number 11. Scott. I watched anxiously as he ran towards it, only to be knocked aside by one of his teammates. I didn't have to be psychic or a mind-reader to know who that player was. Typical Jackson wanting to steal all the glory. Allison groaned beside me, her head falling into her hands. Scott stayed lying on the ground as Jackson charged towards the goal, getting it right in the back of the net. Everyone around me jumped up in delight that we'd got the first goal of the game. I sighed and joined them, clapping much less eagerly than if Scott had done it, but enthusiastically enough so that Lydia would be happy. I wished I didn't have to try so hard just to please that girl.

Lydia was cheering so loudly for Jackson that it was enough to make me go deaf. She turned towards us, flicking her strawberry blonde hair out of the way, and motioned to the poster lying at our feet.

"Poster time, guys!" She exclaimed, bending down to pick it up.

Allison gave me a look and I shrugged. Neither of us were really in the mood to be cheering Jackson on, but we'd promised. I bent down as well to give Lydia a hand, and Allison did the same, lifting it up to show everyone. I noticed how Scott turned to look at it, clearly hurt, and I tried my best to give him an apologetic smile. I wasn't sure if he'd seen me, because he shook his head and ran further onto the field. Poor guy. Allison wasn't playing hard to get, it was obvious to me how much she liked him, but with Lydia around, it was hard for him to get a chance with her.

Half an hour later, we were trailing behind by two goals and you could sense the agitation everyone was feeling. This game was getting more and more tense with each minute that went by. They didn't have long left to catch up or even attempt at winning. Jackson and another guy, I didn't know his name, had scored but the team was falling flat with no one passing to Scott.

"Which one is Scott again?" Allison's dad asked.

"Number 11," Lydia replied, scowling. "Otherwise known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball this entire game."

"Maybe because your boyfriend won't pass to him," I retorted, getting angry now. We were only losing because Scott had just been running around the field the entire game trying to catch the ball and failing because no one would actually pass to him. I knew Jackson was at the bottom of it.

"It's not his fault!"

"It sure looks like that to me!"

"Guys please," Allison said, trying to break the argument up.

"Sorry Ally," I apologised, ignoring Lydia's protests.

Allison had her hands by her mouth, biting the ends of her jumper. "I just hope he's okay."

"I hope we're okay," Lydia mumbled. "We need to win this."

Lydia rose from her seat, picking up the poster for Jackson that read 'Jackson is #1!'. "Allison, Alex?"

Allison sighed, hesitating for a moment before joining Lydia in holding up the sign. This time, she looked even less enthusiastic about it than before, if that was even possible. I neglected in standing up for much longer than Allison had, standing my ground for as long as I could. Eventually, I gave in, realising it was getting me nowhere. I pulled the sleeves of my hoodie over my hands and gripped the edge of the sign. It seemed that as each minute went by, it got so much colder. Soon after, we were sitting down again, tired of holding it up over our heads.

Two of the players, one from each side, bent over, sticks ready to scoop up the ball in between them. I jittered up and down, watching as they fought over it and the ball once again flew up into the air. Then out of nowhere, a player jumped six feet in the air, over another guy from the opposite team, and caught it. He landed steadily on his feet before running off, dodging round people as if it was the easiest thing in the world. The back of his shirt read '11' and I realised it was Scott. Scott had got the ball, and for the first time this game, I felt like we were going to win.

"Come on Scott!" I called out, getting excited.

Beside me, Allison was beginning to lean forward on her tiptoes, biting her bottom lip as her crush danced around the players effortlessly. It was an incredible sight. Who knew high school Lacrosse could be so exciting? Scott was close to the goal now, and he swung his stick round, sending the ball straight into the all jumped up from our seats, except Lydia unsurprisingly, and cheered for Scott. The poster lay forgotten at our feet.

"Pass to McCall!" I heard Coach shout out.

"Pass ARGHHH!" Stiles joined in, making me laugh at his excitement.

I clapped until my hands were sore and starting to feel funny, and looked over to see that Lydia was clapping as well, though very slowly and as if she wasn't happy we were catching up. She hadn't got up like the rest of us, but I shrugged it off, not caring in the slightest that her boyfriend was no longer the star of the game. Scott deserved it, even if he was up to something that involved Derek, the potential murderer.

It was like luck was on our side in this game, because Scott had the ball and was running again, after the opposing team had passed it to us. I could hardly believe it. Seconds later, he had scored, the ball piercing a hole through the goalie's net. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were finally at 5-5.

"Way to go McCall! What? The ball's in the net. That's the goal of the game...to get the ball in the net. And we got it!" Coach Finstock argued with the other team's coach, and took the whistle from the referee, blowing it himself.

"That was amazing," Allison breathed, hardly believing what had just happened.

"Scott was amazing, you mean?" I asked and she nodded, blushing again.

"Thought so."

"He was alright, I suppose," Lydia sniffed, her mouth scrunched up tight in annoyance.

I patted her shoulder in faux sympathy that Jackson hadn't scored the goal. "Come on, Lydia. You know that was awesome!"

She shrugged and I shook my head, knowing that deep down, she was very impressed with Scott's performance. If only Jackson was at the same level this game, then at least she'd be happy.

Everyone was cheering again when we were down to the final minutes of the game. In the corner of my eye, I saw Derek again, standing closer to the field, but in the darkness so as to not be noticed. I frowned, remembering that I'd seen him earlier, and wondering why he was here, at a high school Lacrosse game. Surely he had better things to do, like hiding out, in case the police had any more suspicions about why half of a dead body was found in his back yard, and why he had suddenly disappeared from his cell down at the station. Before watching a movie, Lydia had switched on the TV and we had watched with surprised that the police had caught the killer so quickly. Allison and I were even more shocked when we realised it was the same guy who'd given her a lift home from the party not too long ago. Derek had been arrested for the murder of the woman that had been found in the woods. So how was he here if he was supposed to be in jail?

With seventeen seconds to go, we were heading for a draw. Allison was bouncing beside me, whispering 'you can do it, Scott' over and over again. Scott was crouched over between two of the defence players, ball firmly in the net of his stick. There were now six seconds left, and I felt my heart pound against my chest as they rushed towards him, ready to tackle. It was all a blur, but somehow Scott had flung the ball into the net just as the clock buzzed and the game had finished. Beacon Hills had won.

There was screaming and cheering, with shouts of 'YES!' and 'GO BEACON HILLS' as a flood of people ran onto the field to congratulate the team. I took this as my chance to slip away, and find Derek Hale in the darkness, though I felt bad for leaving Allison and Lydia without an explanation. Honestly, it was probably best if they didn't know. I jogged across the field, looking back every now and again to check that no one was following me. Luckily, everyone was too busy celebrating Beacon Hills' win, so I carried on further into the darkness. I squinted, not sure if I was going in the right direction or if he had managed to get away quicker than I thought. I headed straight for what turned out to be a large clump of trees, brushing the branches out of my way as I caught a glimpse of his leather jacket not too far in front of me, no more than ten feet away. Charging forwards, I almost tripped over my own feet in my efforts to catch him up. I didn't seem to have much luck when it came to being surrounded by trees at night. My feet always betrayed me and I usually ended up on the ground. I could still see Derek, but I wasn't getting any closer, no matter how hard I pushed my legs to run. They were aching so much, but I kept going. My eyes began to water from the icy cold air, and I tried to wipe them, but the tears kept coming. I blinked and then suddenly came to a stop. Derek was gone. One moment, he was running in front of me, and the next, he wasn't. I glanced around, trying to see where he might have gone but there was nothing. It was silent except from the sound of my laboured breathing as I tried not to collapse.

"AHHH!" I screamed as something gripped my arm and spun me round. My back hit the trunk of a tree with a lot of force, and I winced in pain. A rough hand came out of nowhere and covered my mouth, stopping me from making any more sound. I looked up to see the angry but confused face of Derek Hale.

"Shut. Up. What do you think you're doing here?" He seethed. I tried to reply, but it all came out as muffled nonsense because his hand was still over my mouth. Derek looked down at his hand and nodded in realisation, removing it so I could speak.

"Following you, duh. I know there's something going on between you, Scott and Stiles." I folded my arms.

"Go home, little girl."

"No! I will not go home and pretend like nothing weird is happening here. And I'm pretty sure it's not sexual, so what is it?"

Derek raised an eyebrow at my comment, and I blushed furiously, regretting what I'd said. I should really learn not to say anything in the future. I was just glad it was too dark for Derek to see my tomato coloured cheeks.

"It's none of your business, that's what it is."

"Then why do I keep catching them in odd conversations that have the same theme. You," I said, pointing a finger at his chest.

"Maybe you should ask them," Derek replied, walking off and ending the conversation abruptly.

I ran after him and stopped in his path so he couldn't continue walking. I wanted answers, and I was going to get them.

"No, you are going to tell me. And you're going to tell me right now."

Derek scowled at me, his eyes narrowing in anger. No wonder people thought he was a killer with that face.

"You're very stubborn, aren't you?"

"When I want something, yes."

Derek laughed and shook his head, before looking around to check there was no one else with us.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"You just remind me of someone."

"And who might that be?"

"Someone who's long gone now. You're just like her. Stubborn, sarcastic, and always curious."

"Nothing wrong with that," I said quietly, worried that maybe I was getting myself in too deep.

"There is when it's something you shouldn't be meddling in. Stay away from Scott, that's my only advice. He's dangerous, and not in the bad boy way," Derek said, confirming my suspicions.

"I don't fancy him, we're just...anyway that doesn't matter. I just want to know, for my friend's sake, as well as my own."

Derek nodded and pushed past me, hands in his pockets. Before he left me though, he turned his head to the side and stood still.

"Remember. You and Allison should stay away from him, if you want to get through high school in one piece."

And with that, he disappeared, leaving me standing in the middle of the woods, brow furrowed in confusion. What sort of cryptic message was that? Why would being friends with Scott mean not getting through high school? Why was he dangerous? All these questions were spinning round in my mind as I found my way back to the school field. Most people were gone, except from a few who were still drunk on happiness from winning the game. I walked swiftly to the changing rooms to find someone I knew, mind still firmly on my not so enjoyable meeting with Derek. It was almost pitch black inside the changing rooms, but not as dark as outside so I could actually see properly for once, thanks to the moonlight spilling in from the window. I stepped forwards, but didn't make it any further because an arm reached out and yanked me sideways.

"Stiles? What are you doing?" I hissed, almost slamming into the lockers.

"Shhhh, Scottie and Allison are having a moment," Stiles put a finger to his lips and then pointed behind us.

I peered round the lockers to see Allison and Scott standing close together, kissing. Part of me wanted to squeal in excitement, but I also didn't want them to know I was there, creepily watching them. Even though my intentions totally weren't creepy. Stiles'? Who knew really.

"Took them long enough," I whispered to Stiles, who snorted quietly.

"I'm surprised he managed it this quickly. Dunno if you've noticed but Scott isn't exactly skilled in the girls department."

"You can talk."

"Hey, I am perfectly capable of getting any girl I want thank you very much."

I coughed and laughed at the same time. "Ahem-Lydia-ahem."

Stiles whacked me on the shoulder. "I told you, I'm, uh, working on that."

"Sure, sure."

"Anyway, shush."

"Yes, sir," I said with a mock salute and Stiles rolled his eyes.

Allison gave Scott one more kiss before letting go of him and stepping away to see Stiles and I watching curiously. My eyes widened in embarrassment but Allison just laughed and gave us a small wave.

"Hi Stiles, Alex."

"Er...heeeey, yeah," Stiles replied with an awkward wave.

"I'll meet you outside in a bit?" Allison asked me.

"Yep, won't be long. I just need to ask Scott something."

Allison smiled warmly and walked out of the changing rooms, a slight bounce in her step. Scott looked like he was about to cry with happiness, and also as if he couldn't believe what just happened. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was his first kiss. It was all so cute. Scott sauntered over to us, a large smile on his face.

"I kissed her," he mumbled, breathless.

"I saw," Stiles replied, his eyebrows raised in surprised.

"She kissed me."

"I saw that too."

Scott beamed, wordless and I shook my head. Boys. No doubt Allison was probably on the same high, but since she was with her dad, couldn't really show it as much. I wasn't sure her dad even liked Scott all that much. Actually, I wasn't sure her dad liked anyone.

"It's pretty good, huh?"

"How would you know?" I asked Stiles pointedly, and he made a face at me.

"Guys, I still can't believe it. Allison actually kissed me back."

"That tends to happen when you kiss someone who has a massive crush on you."

"She...she does?"

I nodded, trying not to laugh at his obliviousness. "She's my friend, it's not hard to see."

Scott grinned even more, though I wasn't sure that was even possible.

"Awesome!"

Stiles nudged me, shaking his head. I stared up at him, with a questioning look as to what the nudge was about.

"Look what you've done. You've made him all giddy. Now he can't even talk." Stiles pointed to Scott's high looking face. I laughed, raising my shoulders as if I was innocent.

"I've played no part in this. This is all on you, Stilinski. See ya boys," I said, chuckling. I patted his shoulder lightly and walked off to go join Allison outside, leaving Stiles and Scott to reminisce over Scott's potential first kiss.

Allison was waiting patiently in the school's parking lot, and her dad was waiting impatiently in his car, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. She was jittering up and down, though I wasn't sure if that was because of Scott or because it was bloody freezing. I crossed the lot, wiggling my fingers to get her attention. She looked up, and tried not to grin madly like a little girl on Christmas morning. Needless to say, she failed miserably.

"Someone's happy. I wonder why," I teased as I came to a stop in front of her.

"I kissed him. Was that the right thing to do?"

"Of course! You've been waiting for that for a looooong time."

"I wouldn't say that a few weeks was that long," Allison raised an eyebrow at me.

"Eh, at least it was worth the wait...wasn't it?"

Allison glanced behind her to see how impatient her dad was getting. She sighed and leaned forward to talk to me quietly as if he would be able to hear us.

"Totally, but I really don't need my dad finding out yet. You know he ran Scott over before the game?"

"Wait, what? Now it makes sense why he was so curious."

"He's never been like that before. I know dads are supposed to be protective and all..."

"Protective enough to run their daughter's boyfriend over?"

There was a loud beep from behind us, and Allison sighed again, waving back to her dad.

"I guess I should go before he runs _me_ over. I'll text you tomorrow and tell you the whole story."

"I look forward to it," I chuckled and gave her a quick hug, and then watched her reluctantly leave me to get into her dad's car.

Mr Argent waved me goodbye before speeding off back home. I stood there for a few moments, my mind once again on the conversation I had with Derek. I knew it was no use to try and decode his cryptic words when I was this tired, and without getting closer to Scott and Stiles. Maybe I was a bad person, but with everything that happened to me and my family the past year, I was fed up of not taking my life into my own hands. So that's exactly what I was going to do. Especially if Allison was in danger.

By the time I'd got home, I was tired enough to go straight to bed. I changed into a clean pair of pyjamas, slid under the covers and was fast asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

 **Episode 2 is done! Please REVIEW, because I'm really not sure whether to continue or not and I really want to cause I have loads of ideas! :) thanks for reading xx**


	7. Chapter 7

"Miss Hart?"

I groaned, waving my hand in the air. "Just five more minutes, mum."

"Miss Hart!"

My eyes shot open, vision blurry at first before settling back to normal. I blinked several times and looked up cautiously to see my boss staring down at me, arms crossed and tapping his foot on the linoleum floor. It was an ugly pale yellow colour, and I hated looking at it. It was enough to make anyone sick. He pointed to me as if there was something on my face, so I glanced down and realised that my nose was several inches from the desk and my arms were folded in front of me as a makeshift pillow. _Oh shit._

"I don't know why you could mistake me as your mother, but I think the more important point here is, why are you sleeping at work?"

I sat up quickly, brushing a few stray hairs away from my face and shaking my head to get rid of the sleepiness.

"I'm so sorry, sir. I...didn't sleep well last night. Won't happen again."

"Good. We have customers you know," he said sternly, gesturing to the door which had just opened. An elderly lady shuffled into the shop, grasping her laptop as if it was about to be stolen by someone. I'd seen her here before and I silently prayed she wouldn't come to me. I was too tired to explain the ins and outs of the world wide web and it's mysterious properties, like how it could magically search for things. At least, that was what she was here for last time. Maybe she'd forgotten it did that.

I nodded and smiled fakely at my boss, who left me to get on with my usual job of emailing and sorting out problems that way. Luckily, the elderly lady followed him instead of coming up to my desk. It was the best thing that had happened all day. First, I had been called in for the Sunday shift at work, then I'd spent two hours waiting for Allison to call me, and to top it off, my parents came home with serious looks on their faces and promised a sit down talk with me when I got home. The only good thing, apart from the lady not asking me for help, was my call with Stiles during my break.

"Hello Stiles, what can I do for you?" I asked, not even bothering to be chipper.

"Alex, thank God. I need Chemistry help, ASAP. Like, right now."

"I wish I could help you buuuut I'm stuck at work, sorry."

I heard Stiles sigh and mutter something under his breath. "Guess I'm gonna fail this test tomorrow then."

"We have a test tomorrow?"

"Yup."

"Why am I only just hearing about this? Harris is pure evil, I tell you."

Stiles laughed nervously.

"What?"

"Er, well, we got told about the test the day you...ya know, went to the hospital...for your...appointment."

Then it dawned on me. My 'sexual health appointment' that was secretly a cover up for my psychiatrist one, except Stiles didn't know about that. Awkward.

"Ohhhh, yeah, that one...ha. That would explain it..." There was a long pause over the phone.

"Stiles...you there?"

"Huh, yeah I-I'm here, sorry."

"Good. Tell you what, I'll come over after dinner and help you with your Chemistry, okay?"

"THANK YOU. You're a life saver," Stiles exclaimed, and it almost sounded like he was jumping around.

"Glad I could help, see you later," I said, trying not to laugh but failing anyway.

"Bye!"

I went back to work soon after I'd ended the call, and managed to fall asleep at my desk. It was actually a really good nap, except it happened at the wrong time of day.

When I got home, my parents were waiting patiently at the dining room table for me. Before I'd come into the room, they were whispering amongst themselves, too quiet for me to hear. As soon as they saw me, they stopped and folded their arms almost in sync with each other. It was weird.

"Sit down, Alexandra," my mum said, not quite meeting my eyes when I turned my head to look at her.

I slid my bag off my shoulder and dumped it by the table before I pulled out a chair opposite them. It was like I was at an interview, but instead of asking me questions, my parents just stared at me as if they were waiting for me to something. My dad glanced at my mum, rolling his eyes when he realised she wasn't going to start the conversation. Honestly, sometimes she acted more like a child than I did.

"We received a call this morning from Dr. Stevens," he began, and when I didn't respond, he continued. "According to him, you didn't turn up for your appointment yesterday at the hospital."

Appointment? Oh, right. _That_ appointment.

"What about it?" I asked, shaking my head a little as if I didn't know what he was going on about. Truthfully, I knew where this was headed.

"Don't give your dad that sort of attitude, young lady," my mum snapped suddenly.

I looked at her, and for a moment our eyes met, until she returned to avoiding her gaze. Her mouth softened a bit and began to tremble as she bit back whatever else she was going to say. I knew her well enough to understand that she was feeling hurt.

"We've paid a lot of money for you to go to therapy sessions so that we can all move on with our lives. You need to stop blaming yourself, and start listening to what Dr. Stevens has to say," dad told me, unfolding his arms and reaching across the table to cover my hands with his own.

I swallowed thickly, fighting back the urge to break down in front of my parents. I hadn't cried in front of them since that awful day, though my mum frequently had when she thought I wasn't looking, and I knew dad had when he was alone. I remember when he would come home from work, looking more tired than usual, and with slightly red eyes. He would never tell me why though, but I was old enough to know that he'd been crying.

"I'll listen when _she_ stops blaming me," I muttered, pointing at my mother, who bowed her head to hide her expression.

My dad sighed deeply, withdrawing his hands from mine and placing them on each side of his face. "That's not fair, Lex, she's been through a lot."

"Haven't we all? Or is she the exception?" I almost shouted, not caring that my mum winced at my words. It was her fault that we couldn't get past this and actually be happy for the first time in a year.

"Just go back and please sort whatever anger you have directed at us and at yourself...before it's too late."

"I'm not angry at you, dad. I'm furious with _her_ for not letting me sort out whatever feelings I have. I knew you'd take her side in this. You always do. It was always mum or _him,_ but never me!"

I stormed out of the room, knocking my chair over in the process. I didn't care that my mum was crying or that my dad was comforting her. I didn't want to care about anything anymore. Everything was fine until they'd brought that subject again. I was making progress with Dr. Stevens. Slow progress, I admit, but it was better than none at all. Why couldn't we just be a normal family with less of the drama, and more of the...well, family. Was it too much to ask?

I shut myself in my room and lay down on my bed, curling up into a ball as I texted Stiles to ask him his address. Less than thirty seconds later, he had replied. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd been waiting eagerly by his phone for me to text him. I guess he was that desperate for homework help. Getting ready to go to Stiles' house, I changed my clothes, loosened my hair from its pony tail and shook it until it fell into a reasonably nice style. I shut my bedroom door quietly and tiptoed down the stairs once I was decent. Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I peered round the banister to check that my parents wouldn't see me leave. I didn't need another argument, and they wouldn't dare check on me in my room for fear of having something thrown at their heads. It was definitely best to leave me alone when I was angry. However, this meant I couldn't take the car keys, but would have to walk over to Stiles' instead. I didn't completely mind though. A twenty minute walk was enough to clear my head.

It was dark outside, and very, very cold. I was glad I'd thrown a scarf around my neck and put my winter coat on, because otherwise I was pretty sure I'd freeze to death. The walk took much longer than I'd expected, which I put down to my poor map reading skills. Geography had always eluded me, like most things in life. I stood outside what I hoped was his house, and knocked on the door. There was a quiet squeal from inside and then footsteps that got louder and louder, stopping when the door was open to reveal...the Sheriff? Then I remembered about the Sheriff and his 'weird' son my dad had bumped into. That son must have been Stiles.

"Er...hi, Sheriff. Is Stiles here?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and peering upstairs to see Stiles coming down the stairs.

"Um, yeah I'll get him. STILES, THERE'S A GI-... oh there you are," he called out, stopping short when he saw Stiles standing right behind him.

Stiles gave me a two fingered wave. "Hey there...Alex."

"Hi Stiles."

There was an awkward silence as Stiles' dad looked back and forth between us. Eventually, I shivered and cleared my throat.

"Oh..yeah, c-come in," Stiles stuttered, throwing his arm out to gesture inside.

I stepped inside, and waited for Stiles to lead the way. Their house was quite dark, the only lights being from the kitchen and the television in the living room. The decorations were masculine, and I couldn't see any feminine touches. But then there wouldn't be, I thought sadly. I'd never asked Stiles about his mum, but I had heard at school that she passed away when he was much younger. Now wasn't really the best time to start talking about things like that.

"How did you get a girl to come round?" The Sheriff whispered to Stiles as he closed the front door behind me.

I snorted quietly. I must have been the first girl outside of the family to step foot in the Stilinski household, but that wasn't surprising considering Stiles couldn't talk to a girl without tripping over his words. It was quite adorable really.

Stiles glared at his dad. "Dad, shush." He saw me looking at the two of them, mouth upturned and trying not to burst out laughing. "I actually have girls over all the time, don't I, dad?"

"Huh?" Stiles nudged his father. "O-oh, ohhh, yeah. All the time," he raised his eyebrows and Stiles, who was nodding vigorously to me.

"I'm glad you do, Stiles," I said, patting the side of his shoulder as I brushed by him to stand further into the house.

"Are you going to introduce your friend to me, Stiles?" The Sheriff asked.

"Um, dad, this is Alex. She's new to Beacon Hills. Alex, this is my dad...but you already knew that so I don't know why I just told you again."

"Hi Alex, I'm sorry you're stuck teaching my son Chemistry, but it's good to meet you." Stiles' dad shook my hand and then reached inside his pocket to pull out his keys.

I shrugged. "I don't mind really. Least I could do."

The Sheriff raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're in my son's debt, because you really don't have to pay him back."

"Thanks...dad."

I laughed and shook my head. "No, no, nothing like that. Let's just say I'm glad to be here."

This time it was Stiles who looked confused. I glanced upstairs to let him know I'd explain when we were alone. He took a while to get what I was trying to say but eventually nodded.

"Right, I'll leave you two kids to it. I've gotta run down to the station. Be...safe."

Stiles' eyes grew wider, and his mouth opened and closed several times, watching his dad go out the door and shut it with a quietly. He turned towards me and smiled sheepishly before walking forwards to lead me up the stairs. I followed him, but then stopped when I remembered something.

"Stiles?"

He spun around, looking straight ahead, expecting to see me right behind him.

"Er, yeah?" Stiles replied when he found me at the bottom of the stairs with a curious look on my face.

"Was that you squealing when I knocked on the door?"

Stiles paused for a moment and then shook his head. "Noooo, definitely not. I don't squeal...like...ever."

"Oh okay, I wonder what it could have been, then."

"Are we gonna stand here discussing this or are you going to come up and save my ass from Harris' wrath?"

"Hmmm, that's a difficult one," I said, tapping my chin.

"The second one...you're supposed to choose the second one! My ass is not to be messed with, okay?"

I laughed and walked further up the stairs. "You're very protective of it."

"There are two things that I'm protective on this." Stiles waved a hand over his body. "My behind, and...well, we're not going into that."

"I'm glad we're not."

Stiles' bedroom was a mess. And I thought I was untidy. As soon as he opened the bedroom door, he rushed inside to pick up the clothes and books he had lying around. I followed him inside and looked around for a place to sit down. It was a choice between the bed, the floor and the desk chair. Thinking the bed might have been a bit suggestive, I chose to sit on the floor and took my bag off my shoulder to get my Chemistry stuff out.

"Your floor is kinda uncomfortable...oh that's why," I said, pulling a black sock out from under me.

Stiles was over in a blur, snatching the sock out of my hand and throwing it over his shoulder. "Pretend you didn't see that."

"See what?" I asked with a smile. Honestly, I didn't mind his dirty socks...as long as they were nowhere near me.

"Right. Chemistry," Stiles muttered to himself, bringing over his laptop, textbooks and a pad of paper.

"So, what are we starting with?"

Stiles picked up a textbook and tried to read it. "Uh, this doesn't make sense. Did I get it in a different language cause I'm pretty sure this isn't English."

"Maybe it would help if you had it the right way up."

"Oh...right...yeah," Stiles said, blushing as he turned the book and started again. "So the test is on acids and bases, and why are you glad to be here?"

"Er, did that sentence even make sense?"

"Yes it did. Now, why are you glad to be here? Is it my good looks?"

"If only, Stiles," I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "It's my parents. They keep going on and on at me about stuff and I just had to get away for a while, if you know what I mean?"

Stiles nodded. "You, er, don't have to go into it if you don't want to."

"Thanks. I'd rather not relive the nightmare of arguing with my parents again. Chemistry now?" I asked, giving him a warm smile to say that I was okay.

"Yeah, let's get to it. So how do we calculate the pH of an acid? I wasn't listening in that class."

"I can tell, because if you were, you'd have heard Harris say we cover that next year. It's just reactions at the moment."

"Thank god, that makes this whole thing a lot easier. So if we react these together, what do we get?" Stiles asked, pointing to an equation he'd written on his paper.

I took his notepad and began explaining the reaction, giving him some more examples until he got what to do. We sat mostly in silence for a while after that as we revised separately for the test, exchanging comments about how much we hated Mr Harris every now and then. It was past ten when I finally shut my textbook, rubbing my tired eyes just so I could stay awake for a bit longer. I looked over to see Stiles spread out on the carpet, mouth open and snoring loudly. I laughed quietly and got up to go over to his bed. I picked up his pillow and a navy throw that was stuffed down the side of his bed, and went back over to Stiles. Kneeling down, I lifted his head up gently, put the pillow underneath it and then laid the throw over him. He was dead to the world.

"Night Stiles," I whispered as I collected up my books and stuffed them into my bag. I went down the stairs and almost bumped into the Sheriff on my way out.

"Ah, sorry Sheriff..I was just leaving," I said, pointing towards the door.

The Sheriff narrowed his eyes. "Stiles fell asleep didn't he?"

"Yep."

"Sometimes I wonder if that kid is actually related to me."

"Eh, he's not the smartest cookie in the jar. Must be pH 10 cause he's pretty basic...ha, no? Okay..." I trailed off, eyeing the door for my nearest escape from this increasingly awkward situation. I shouldn't make jokes.

"I can see why my son likes you," he said, smiling.

"He...likes me?"

"Yeah, of course. You're the first friend he's brought round, except Scott but he doesn't count."

"Wow, I can't see why when all he does is fall asleep on people."

The Sheriff laughed. "It's a completely mystery."

"It sure is. Anyway, I should be off before Stiles wakes up and thinks this is a sleepover. Thanks for having me. Bye, Sheriff."

"Night Alex, get home safe, okay?"

I nodded and said goodnight, beginning my journey home. I was grateful Stiles had needed my help and didn't pry too much into my family problems. It had been a good distraction, at least for this time. I sneaked back upstairs to my room when I got home, undetected by my parents. I had no angry text messages or voicemails left on my phone, so they thankfully hadn't checked up on me.

I flopped back on the bed, not bothering to get changed out of my clothes. At that moment in time, I really didn't care. I just wanted this day to be over and go to school and feel somewhat more normal than I had all weekend. I didn't want to think about Derek or what was going on in this town. I wanted to sleep. So I did.

 _Hate. That's what I felt. Furious. That's what I was. I leapt up from my resting place, letting it build up inside of me, letting it rise up to the surface before I broke into a run. I stretched my legs out, feeling them swell with power, twisting as they changed. The power flooded through me, tearing at my insides until they reached my eyes. I glanced up at the moon as I ran, feeling how it strengthened me. It was like a drug I was addicted to. I could never get enough of it._

 _The cool air that rushed by me as I sprinted was refreshing. It spurred me on to find what I was looking for. Or who. My mind travelled back to that night. The night of betrayal. The night of fire. The night my family died. I didn't care who I hurt to avenge them. The people that forced me to become a prisoner in my own body._

 _Close. I was close to him. So close I could smell the stench of his fear as I growled from behind him, baring my sharp canines as I snapped at his heels. I caught sight of my eyes in the window. They were glowing a brilliant crimson red. Red like blood._

I woke up and sat upright, dripping with sweat and tears streaming down my face. The red eyes were back.

* * *

Late. I was so late. This day had really not started off well. My alarm clock had decided it was a good time to stop working, and with my parents not talking to me, I had no one to wake me up. At 9am, I'd rushed out of bed and into the shower, throwing on clothes as I ran down the stairs and out the door. Lots of traffic meant I got to school just after first period. I'd missed homeroom, but that wasn't important. Missing Chemistry with Mr Harris was going to get me in serious trouble, thought that was the last thing on my mind because as soon as I arrived at school, I saw a flurry of police cars and a bus...covered with blood.

There were bloody fingerprints and handprints streaked all over the windows, and the door had been ripped off by the hinges. It lay crumpled on the ground, and there was blood on that too. The whole scene had been cordoned off with yellow tape, keeping back the crowd of students that had come outside to see what had happened. I couldn't see a body being wheeling off, so whoever had been attacked, or even killed, was somewhere else. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a text from Stiles.

 _From: Stiles_

 _Look to your right!_

I frowned at the text, but looked to my right anyway. Stiles was standing with Scott, and waving madly at me to come over. I put the phone back in my pocket and strolled over to meet them. Scott was looking terrified, but Stiles looked his usual hyperactive self.

"What's up?" I asked, coming to a stop in front of them.

"Sorry I, er, fell asleep on you last night. Chemistry just tired me out so much," Stiles said, scratching the nape of his neck.

"Nah don't worry about it, your dad and I had a good chat."

Stiles' eyes widened. "W-what did you say?"

"Oh nothing much," I teased him, my attention drifting to Scott, who looked like he was about to throw up. "You okay Scott?"

Scott's eyes flickered towards me, and he smiled weakly. "I'm...great. Um, you haven't seen Allison around have you?"

"No, sorry. Just got here because of my stupid alarm clock."

Stiles leaned forwards to whisper in Scott's ear. "Dude, you just saw her."

Scott ignored him and carried on talking to me. "You should use your phone for that, it's a life saver."

"I may just do that next time. Anyone know what's going on here?" I gestured to the bloodied bus.

"Er..." Scott looked to Stiles for backup, but he just shrugged. "No definitely not, except in Chemistry we saw someone going into an ambulance. Stiles, do you know?"

Stiles made a face at Scott, and began making noises that I think were meant to be words. "Ahh, well, no...um probably just an animal attack. My dad was talking about there being lots of them...recently."

"I chose just the right time to move here then."

"Ha, yeah, you really did," Stiles said, laughing at me as he put his hands on his hips. "Well we should really be off, gotta go do that thing...don't we, Scott?"

"Yeah we do. See ya later Alex."

"Bye guys," I said, before realising that I was supposed to be going the same way as them. But when I went to go after them, they were gone.

I adjusted the strap on my bag and tied up my annoying brown hair, walking quickly to my first class, or should I say second. On my way to French though, I ran into none other than the wonderful Mr Harris.

"Miss Hart, glad you could finally get out of bed and come be educated," he droned, sounding as boring as he looked.

I put on my best polite face and smiled. "I'm sorry, sir. My alarm clock didn't go off. I got here as quickly as I could."

"First you have the nerve to miss my lesson and now you're smirking at me. Detention, tonight."

So much for trying to be polite. My face fell and I started scowling at him, before I remembered he could easily give me a whole week's worth of detentions.

"But Mr Ha-"

"No buts. Or you'll be joining me after school today and tomorrow."

I bowed my head and clenched my teeth. "Yes, sir."

Mr Harris, or the devil, as I was now naming him, gave me a sickly sweet smile and walked off, leaving me to half run to French class before I was late for the billionth time today. Why wasn't it lunch already?

 **Hope you guys liked this chapter! Please review :D**

 **Thank you for your reviews! Don't worry, there are definitely going to be more scenes with Stiles and Alex so they can build on their friendship :)**

 **-Ellie xxx**


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